The Samsung Galaxy Note 4 smartphone that a Sterling Heights, Michigan, man bought in 2011 from a T-Mobile store exploded and burst into flames in November, causing him serious injury, said a complaint (in Pacer) accusing Samsung of product negligence. The case is noteworthy among other recent litigation against Samsung because it involves a 5-year-old phone and makes no mention of the Note7 debacle. Bayar Karim filed the complaint March 17 in a Wayne County, Michigan, state court, but Samsung had it removed Wednesday to U.S. District Court in Detroit. Not long after Karim set his Note 4 next to his bed Nov. 30 and went to sleep for the night, he woke up to what sounded to him like a gunshot and saw flames and smoke coming from his smartphone, said his complaint. Karim suffered burns to his face and upper body, as well as hearing loss and the loss of some peripheral vision in one eye, it said. Company representatives didn’t comment Thursday on the Karim complaint and reacted previously to similar lawsuits by saying it stands behind “the safety of the millions of Samsung phones in the U.S.” (see 1612280017).
The EPA’s determination to deny Energy Star Version 8.0 certification to TVs found to be less energy-efficient when tested “with content that reflects a variety of typical viewing experiences” (see 1703100064) without agreed-upon definitions of what that means was a sticking point among commenters on the V8.0's spec’s first draft. At issue, comments posted Monday said, is how to account for uniform testing from all TV makers when "typical viewing experiences" can mean different things to different people. The proposed testing requirement “would be very difficult to meet because there is no standardized methodology for manufacturers to determine ‘typical viewing experiences,’” commented John Godfrey, Samsung Electronics America senior vice president-public policy. “Unfortunately, there is not likely to be a new, agreed-upon test clip in time for implementation” of V8.0, wrote Dave Lamb, senior scientist in 3M’s Display Materials and Systems Division. The Natural Resources Defense Council wants EPA to “add language” to the V8.0 spec “to better define what ‘typical viewing’ experience means,” said Senior Scientist Noah Horowitz. “Adjust” downward nearly by half the agency's proposed requirement that TVs maintain at least 150 nits of brightness when viewed in a dark room with the automatic brightness control feature enabled, wrote Tony Ye, LG Electronics USA senior manager-regulatory compliance.
Samsung abandoned its bid at the Patent and Trademark Office to register “HDR10" as a trademark for a wide range of possible commercial and consumer devices and applications (see 1703150031), PTO records show. Samsung left intact its application to register “HDR10 Plus.” HDR10 has been in routine, ubiquitous industry use as standard nomenclature for perceptual-quantization-based, SMPTE-compliant high-dynamic-range products and service. Samsung representatives didn’t comment further.
“Right to repair” bills for consumer tech products were introduced this year in several state legislatures that would require manufacturers to sell repair parts to consumers and independent repair shops. That the bills haven’t progressed very far so far doesn’t worry Kyle Wiens, CEO and co-founder of iFixit, one of right to repair's biggest advocates, he told us. “It’s a new concept, and these things take time.” Some tech and consumer electronics interests oppose the bills.
The content industry runs the risk of endangering high dynamic range’s commercial success if it trumpets HDR just for technology’s sake and not as a storytelling vehicle, Harry Mathias, associate professor of film and digital cinema at San Jose State University, told an SMPTE webinar Thursday. "You can’t simply promise an audience a wild technological ride. You have to deliver the story." Too many films lately “are being sold based on their technological content,” said the veteran cinematographer in film and TV production. He isn't seeking to “throw a monkey wrench into technological advancement.” HDR “is a good thing,” said Mathias.
HEVC Advance, the one-stop-shop patent pool to license technology under the H.265 platform (see 1504010051), scored the biggest coup in its two-year existence Wednesday when it announced landing Samsung as both a licensor and licensee. "Having the support of the largest consumer electronics company in the world, and a leader in innovation with one of largest and most important HEVC/H.265 patent portfolios, will help eliminate HEVC/H.265 IP barriers and further accelerate 4K UHD adoption -- a big win for consumers and all market participants," said HEVC Advance CEO Pete Moller in a statement. Samsung is the largest single H.265 licensor in the rival MPEG LA pool, which declined to comment. Moller confirmed to us that Samsung is the first new HEVC Advance member to take advantage of an option to belong to both patent pools.
Having landed three deals licensing the BlackBerry brand and intellectual property to smartphones shipped by other companies (see 1612200062), BlackBerry is “expanding to the next phase of our licensing program” that will “focus on a broader set of end points,” CEO John Chen said on a Friday earnings call. “What this might mean -- and I make no promise -- is that you may soon see a BlackBerry tablet.” Before the tablet can progress to the next stage of commercial reality, "we have to QA it, we have to do a lot of things with it, so it’s not a 100 percent-committed thing," Chen said of the quality assurance process. "It’s going to come from our partners.” not from BlackBerry itself, he said. He didn't identify the licensee that’s weighing the possible tablet introduction. With more than “100 million lines of software code in some of today’s vehicles, there’s a growing risk of security breaches and failures,” Chen said of connected cars.
Kaleidescape has “confirmation” from the DVD Copy Control Association that the company was “incorrectly identified” in a DOJ Antitrust Division notice as having withdrawn from the Content Scramble System (CSS) licensing group (see 1703270055), Kaleidescape CEO Cheena Srinivasan emailed us Wednesday. DVD CCA representatives “regret the error,” Srinivasan told us. “They have informed me that if anyone wishes to know more about our DVD CCA status, that they’d be glad to confirm that we’re a current licensee of the [CSS] technology.” DVD CCA confirms that Kaleidescape remains a member of the group, spokesman Greg Larsen emailed us Thursday. The notice mistakenly listing Kaleidescape’s membership as having lapsed was the result of “nothing more than an unintentional clerical error on the part of DVD CCA,” Larsen said. “We are looking to see if there is a way to file an amended notice.” DVD CCA “is certainly not happy about this filing mistake and regrets any error for which it is responsible,” he said. Kaleidescape was one of six companies to recently withdraw from DVD CCA, according to the notice published in Monday’s Federal Register. DOJ and the FTC require the change-of-membership notifications to extend DVD CCA members antitrust protections under the 1993 National Cooperative Research and Production Act, the notice said. That the notice listed Kaleidescape as having withdrawn from DVD CCA was noteworthy in light of the company's settlement nearly three years ago of the decade-long breach of license complaint brought by DVD CCA over Kaleidescape’s movie servers that import CSS-protected DVDs.
Panasonic isn't disclosing the total capitalization of Panasonic Ventures, the company’s new venture capital firm, spokesman Jim Reilly emailed us Thursday. Panasonic Ventures will be headquartered in Cupertino, California, under the direction of President Masahiro Kinoshita, whose “most recent assignment” was as director-M&A business creation at Panasonic AVC Networks North America, based in Newark, New Jersey, Reilly told us. The new firm “will invest in start-up companies mainly in the United States, with initial investments of around $100 million,” Panasonic said Thursday. “Panasonic has invested in Silicon Valley start-ups with cutting-edge technologies for nearly 20 years since 1998,” the announcement said. The charter of Panasonic Ventures will be to “spearhead Panasonic's investments in start-ups that have unique business models or products and services not bound by the company's existing business fields,” the company said. “Through these investments, as well as collaborating with these firms to explore new business opportunities, Panasonic looks to create new businesses that will drive its future growth.”
EMagin’s recent signing of a multimillion-dollar agreement to supply its OLED microdisplays for consumer virtual-reality head-mounted displays (HMDs) to a “major Tier 1 consumer electronics company” was its third such “success” in the past 15 months, CEO Andrew Sculley said on a Tuesday earnings call. Chief Financial Officer Jeffrey Lucas is “a little cautious” in predicting when its supply agreements with top manufacturers will result in HMDs reaching the commercial market: "it could happen relatively quickly, but there are so many variables involved here that we are just a little cautious.”