Comments are due Oct. 2 at the International Trade Commission on the Tariff Act Section 337 import ban that Philips seeks on Hisense, LG and TCL TVs; Dell, HP and Lenovo laptops and monitors; and Intel, MediaTek and Realtek components, says Thursday’s Federal Register. Philips’ Friday complaint (login required) in docket 337-3492 alleges the PC brands and TV makers infringe four patents on “secure authenticated distance measurement” for digital video delivery content protection. The chipmakers are accused of violating two of the patents. Philips’ ITC action mirrors complaints it filed in U.S. District Court in Wilmington, Delaware, against the tech companies a day earlier. The finished products identified as infringing goods in all the complaints were sold through Best Buy, Walmart and other big-box retailers. Proposed respondents didn't comment Wednesday.
Broadcasters will have “a lot" of new ATSC 3.0 deployments over the next five years, NAB Chief Technology Officer Sam Matheny told CTA’s virtual Technology and Standards Forum Tuesday. “You’re going to see a lot of stations that are taking advantage of the benefits of NextGenTV as it relates to better picture, better sound.” Sports broadcasting contracts will be up for renewal, and with that will come “increased pressure to start doing stuff in 4K,” he said. NextGenTV is now a “reality” in the U.S., said Matheny. COVID-19, "unfortunately," is “another reality,” he said. Broadcasters haven’t put NextGenTV “on the back burner” during the health crisis, he said. “Their commitment hasn’t wavered,” though the pandemic “has slowed the rollout,” said Matheny. Nine U.S. markets are live with 3.0, serving about 10% of TV households, he said. Stations in eight more markets have filed 3.0 license applications “with intentions to go on the air in the near future,” he said. “Things are changing rapidly,” though industry likely will fall 50% short of its 2019 NAB Show goal of launching in 60 markets by the end of 2020, he said. The CES 2020 “commitment” of LG, Samsung and Sony to debut up to 20 NextGenTV models collectively this year was “probably exceeded,” despite “quite a few challenges around getting products launched and shipped” during the pandemic, said Brian Markwalter, CTA senior vice president-technology and standards. Models run the gamut from sets priced below $1,000 to the most expensive 8K TVs, available both in OLED and "full-array" LCD, he said. CTA and NAB are “in the process now” of releasing the “next big revision” in the NextGenTV “test suite” for 2021-model TVs, he said. The suite involves 135 tests and more than 150 “unique assertions,” he said. TVs are required to pass to qualify for the NextGenTV logo, he said.
Best Buy Purchasing and Best Buy Health “have been adversely affected” by the Section 301 List 3 tariffs on Chinese imports, argued the subsidiaries Monday in a complaint (in Pacer) at the U.S. Court of International Trade. It was among the roughly 3,300 suits filed at the CIT since Thursday to vacate the Lists 3 and 4A tariffs, including 700 on Monday, the last filing day for importers to qualify for refunds if the actions are successful. There was some debate Tuesday whether the Monday deadline could be open to interpretation.
CTA surveys on COVID-19 consumer behavioral changes found 24% of U.S. homes added at least one paid streaming subscription service the past three months, Lesley Rohrbaugh, director-market research, told CTA’s virtual Technology and Standards Forum Monday. Two-thirds reported watching more content since the pandemic began, she said. Homes subscribing to paid video streaming services rose 19 points since 2018, while cable and satellite were down 15 points, she said. “One of the major areas of advanced consumer use is seen within the digital health space.” Use of telehealth services “has more than tripled” since the start of the pandemic, she said. “Looking to the future when the pandemic hopefully begins to subside,” nearly a quarter of U.S. homes canvassed “say they’ll continue using these services,” she said. The “surge in demand” for work-from-home and remote-learning connectivity products “completely disrupted seasonality,” said Steve Koenig, vice president-market research. “Seasonality is out the window,” he said. “Old habits” will join with “some new tricks” to shape tech post-pandemic, said Koenig. “Contactless payment systems” and delivery services at retail will be “very, very visible,” he said. “These are the new fixtures at retail, and retailers should be viewing these as long-term investments and strategies, not as short-term coping mechanisms. Consumers are going to demand these things.”
Samsung owes Verance more than $1.31 million in unpaid license fees and late charges for embedding Cinavia audio watermarking detectors in the roughly 7 million Blu-ray players it sold July 2017 through September 2019, alleged a Verance complaint (in Pacer) Friday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. The complaint stands out for its unredacted treatment of sensitive documents, including full disclosure of confidential license agreements, royalty payment schedules and quarterly Samsung product shipment reports.
Philips unleashed a torrent of complaints Thursday in U.S. District Court in Wilmington, Delaware, accusing seven tech companies of infringing various “secure authenticated distance measurement” patents for digital video delivery content protection. Accused of violating four patents were LG (in Pacer) for a laptop and 43-inch 4K smart TV, plus Dell, HP and Lenovo (in Pacer) for laptops and 27-inch monitors. Chip companies Intel, MediaTek and Realtek (in Pacer) allegedly infringed two of the four patents. All the finished products were sold through Best Buy, Walmart or other big-box retailers, said the complaints. Philips said it gave each of the defendants “actual notice” of the alleged infractions via warning letters, yet all “continued to actively induce, and contribute to, their customers’ infringement." Philips seeks a jury trial and wants punitive and compensatory damages “in an amount no less than a reasonable royalty for the use made of the patented inventions.” The defendants didn't comment Friday.
The U.S. Court of International Trade should “set aside” the List 3 and 4A Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports as “ultra vires” (“beyond the powers”) of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and order the duties refunded to U.S. importers, said tech companies Dana Innovations, Foster Electric, GN Audio, Scosche Industries and Sharp Electronics in five virtually identical complaints (in Pacer). They were among hundreds filed Thursday and Friday accusing USTR of overstepping Trade Act authority and violating the Administrative Procedure Act. The suits attempt to seize on a potential tariff refund opportunity, if floor-tiling plaintiffs prevail in their case (see 2009110041). The complaints are “timely,” said the dozens of them we studied, under CIT’s residual jurisdiction provision, coming before Monday’s two-year anniversary of USTR’s List 3 Federal Register notice. Though the HMTX case “may be a long-shot, you can never say never,” blogged trade expert Ted Murphy with Sidley Austin. “If you want to preserve your right to a refund, in case the flooring companies’ action is successful, you need to put a case on file at the CIT.” Scosche suffered “an actual, imminent injury that is fairly traceable to the implementation, administration, and enforcement of List 3 and/or List 4,” said the car audio supplier. The harms “can be redressed by a declaratory judgment and permanent injunction” ruling USTR’s actions unlawful under the Trade Act and “arbitrary and capricious” under the APA, said Scosche. Akin Gump filed the original suit for HMTX using as a template the complaint it drafted for CTA two years ago. Other lawyers modeled their actions after that. USTR didn't comment.
U.S. District Judge Solomon Oliver in Cleveland recused himself Thursday from the trial into allegations that Netflix and Hulu are running streaming services through the public right of way in Maple Heights, Ohio, without proper state authorization and failing to pay 5% quarterly franchise fees to the municipality (see 2008220001). Oliver’s order (in Pacer) gave no reason. The case was reassigned to Judge James Gwin. The complaint seeks class-action status on behalf of all Ohio municipalities.
Sumo Logic priced its initial public offering at $22 a share and closed 22.2% higher at $26.88 on its first trading day Thursday. The IPO pricing was a dollar above the high end of Sumo’s estimated $17-$21 range in a Sept. 8 registration statement. Sumo’s "continuous intelligence" software platform “scans an average of 873 petabytes of data per day and an average of 18.6 billion events per second,” said the statement. Its data analytics “provide actionable intelligence around what happened, why it happened, and how to resolve business, technology, or cybersecurity issues,” it said. Its 2,100 customers include Alaska Airlines, JetBlue, Major League Baseball and Netflix, it said.
The first venture capital investments in green companies from Amazon’s $2 billion Climate Pledge Fund, announced Thursday, are “our first round” of cash infusions, Head-Worldwide Sustainability Kara Hurst told an Axios webinar Thursday. “We’re going to continue to look at what kinds of companies and technologies will have a direct impact on Amazon." Amazon and green group Global Optimism co-founded the fund to support sustainable businesses and technologies that will help meet the company's commitment of becoming “net-zero carbon” by 2040. AT&T, meanwhile, targets carbon neutrality by 2035 (see 2009170025). Amazon recently revised its forecast of becoming 100% reliant on renewable energy by 2025, five years earlier than the previous projection, because “where we can go faster, we can accelerate,” said Hurst. “We’re going very big in wind and solar. We’ve done over 91 projects to date. We’ll just continue to ramp up." The e-tailer also has studied ways of making packaging more climate-friendly for more than a decade, she said.