United States Fourth Circuit

Virginia county's open access provision requiring plaintiff to provide any requesting ISP with access to its broadband cable modem platform is preempted and superseded by federal law under the federal Communications Act, 47 USC 541(b)(3)(D).

Appellate Information

• Decided 07/11/2001
• Published 07/11/2001

Judges

• Before WIDENER, WILKINS, and MICHAEL, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Fourth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• ARGUED:  Edward Joseph Fuhr, Hunton & Williams, Richmond, Virginia;  Andrew Gerald McBride, Cooper, Carvin & Rosenthal, P.L.L.C., Washington, DC, for Appellants.  David William Carpenter, Sidley & Austin, Chicago, Illinois, for Appellees.   ON BRIEF:  Stacy C. Taylor, Eric H. Feiler, Hunton & Williams, Joseph P. Rapisarda, Jr., Joseph T. Tokarz, II, Karen M. Adams, County Attorney's Office, Richmond, VA, for Appellant Henrico.  Michael A. Carvin, Noel J. Francisco, Cooper, Carvin & Rosenthal, P.L.L.C., Washington, DC, for Appellant GTE;  Brett M. Kavanaugh, Kirkland & Ellis, Washington, DC, for Appellant Bell Atlantic.   Peter D. Keisler, David L. Lawson, Sidley & Austin, Chicago, IL;  James C. Roberts, Carter Glass, IV, Dabney Carr, IV, Mays & Valentine, L.L.P., Richmond, VA;  Mark C. Rosenblum, Laura A. Kaster, AT & T Corporation, Basking Ridge, NJ;  Sean Lindsay, David White, MediaOne Group, Inc., Englewood, CO, for Appellees.  Andrew Jay Schwartzman, Cheryl A. Leanza, Harold J. Feld, Media Access Project, Washington, DC, for Amici Curiae Consumer Council, et al.  Nicholas P. Miller, William Malone, Joseph Van Eaton, John F. Noble, James R. Hobson, Miller & Van Eaton, P.L.L.C., Washington, DC, for Amici Curiae NATOA, et al.  William P. Cook, Pamela J. Marple, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, L.L.P., Washington, DC, for Amicus Curiae OpenNet.  Christopher Wolf, Bruce E. Boyden, Proskauer Rose, L.L.P., Washington, DC;  Tanya L. Forsheit, Proskauer Rose, L.L.P., Los Angeles, CA, for Amicus Curiae Hands Off. William B. Schultz, Acting Assistant Attorney General, Jacob M. Lewis, Mark Davies, United States Department of Justice, Christopher J. Wright, General, Jonathan E. Nuechterlein, Deputy General, James M. Carr, Federal Communications Commission, Washington, DC, for Amicus Curiae Commission.  Howard J. Symons, Tara M. Corvo, Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky & Popeo, P.C., Washington, DC, for Amici Curiae National Cable Television, et al.