Agencies and Commissions March 23, 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Notice is hereby given that a complaint was filed with the U.S. International Trade Commission on February 17, 2006, under section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, 19 U.S.C. 1337, on behalf of Epson Portland Inc. of Hillsboro, Oregon, Epson America, Inc. of Long Beach, California, and Seiko Epson Corporation of Japan. Supplemental letters were filed on March 10 and 14, 2006. The complaint alleges violations of section 337 in the importation into the United States, the sale for importation, and the sale within the United States after importation of certain ink cartridges and components thereof by reason of infringement of claim 7 of U.S. Patent No. 5,615,957; claims 18, 81, 93, 149, 164 and 165 of U.S. Patent No. 5,622,439; claims 83 and 84 of U.S. Patent No. 5,158,377; claims 19 and 20 of U.S. Patent No. 5,221,148; claims 29, 31, 34 and 38 of U.S. Patent No. 5,156,472; claim 1 of U.S. Patent No. 5,488,401; claims 1, 2, 3 and 9 of U.S. Patent No. 6,502,917; claims 1, 31 and 34 of U.S. Patent No. 6,550,902; and claims 1, 10 and 14 of U.S. Patent No. 6,955,422. The complaint further alleges that an industry in the United States exists or is in the process of being established as required by subsection (a)(2) of section 337. The complainant requests that the Commission institute an investigation and, after the investigation, issue a general exclusion order and cease and desist orders.

This document announces the next meeting date and agenda of the Consumer Advisory Committee. The purpose of the Committee is to make recommendations to the Federal Communications Commission (``Commission'') regarding consumer issues within the jurisdiction of the Commission and to facilitate the participation of all consumers in proceedings before the Commission.

The Board is revising the Federal Reserve's cash services policy to reduce depository institutions' overuse of Federal Reserve Bank currency processing services, which could affect approximately 150 to 225 depository institutions with high-volume currency operations. The Board is adding two elements to the policy: (1) A custodial inventory program that provides an incentive to depository institutions to hold $10 and $20 notes in their vaults to meet customers' demand, and (2) a fee to depository institutions that deposit fit $10 or $20 notes at a Reserve Bank and order the same denomination, above a de minimis amount, during the same business week. In general, the Federal Reserve expects depository institutions to recirculate to their customers fit currency deposited with them and to deposit only excess or unfit currency with Reserve Banks. The Reserve Banks will amend section 3.3 of Operating Circular 2 to implement the provisions of the final policy.

NCUA is amending its share insurance rules to implement amendments to the Federal Credit Union Act (FCU Act) made by the Federal Deposit Insurance Reform Act of 2005 (Reform Act) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Reform Conforming Amendments Act of 2005 (Conforming Amendments Act). In this regard, the interim final rule: Defines the ``standard maximum share insurance amount'' as $100,000 and provides that beginning in 2010, and in each subsequent 5-year period thereafter, NCUA and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) will jointly consider if an inflation adjustment is appropriate to increase that amount; increases the share insurance limit for certain retirement accounts from $100,000 to $250,000, subject to the above inflation adjustments; and provides pass-through coverage to each participant of an employee benefit plan, but limits the acceptance of shares in employee benefit plans to insured credit unions that are well capitalized or adequately capitalized. Additionally, NCUA is amending its share insurance rules to clarify insurance coverage for qualified tuition programs, commonly referred to as 529 plans, and share accounts denominated in foreign currencies.