As more than 17% of worldwide video streaming users stream content illegally, the anti-privacy solutions market is expected to reach $172 million this year and $229 million by 2024, ABI Research said Wednesday. It said 7.5 million North American households are reportedly accessing pirated content, costing providers more than $4 billion yearly, and pandemic shelter-in-place orders are driving piracy activity higher.

The International Trade Commission issued another limited exclusion order banning import of Comcast X1 set-top boxes that infringe patents held by Rovi, says Wednesday’s Federal Register. The ban, which concludes an investigation that began in 2018, is the second issued against Comcast at Rovi's request, after Customs and Border Protection in 2018 ruled Comcast's redesign of the X1 set-tops got around a limited exclusion order. A third investigation requested by Rovi on the cable operator's X1 boxes is ongoing. The ITC also issued cease and desist orders against Comcast but set no bond during the 60-day period of presidential review on whether to leave the exclusion order in place. Comcast didn’t comment Tuesday.

The Copyright Office launched a pilot program Monday for its electronic recordation system, which will replace the current paper-based system. The pilot program is the first installation of the CO’s enterprise copyright system.

Two computer science professors with backgrounds in the “technical analysis of audio players,” controllers and components top the list of seven expert witnesses Sonos plans to call in the International Trade Commission’s Tariff Act Section 337 investigation into allegations that Google devices infringe five Sonos multiroom audio patents. Kevin Almeroth, a professor at the University of California-Santa Barbara, represented Jawbone in its ITC patent fight against Fitbit over fitness trackers (see 1608300035), said documents (login required) filed Friday in docket 337-TA-1191. University of Minnesota professor Jon Weissman represented Facebook against allegations it stole BlackBerry mobile-computing applications, said the filings. The other experts are independent consultants with backgrounds in engineering, patent monetization and statistical analyses, they said. One consultant, Marc Levitt, spent seven years in the 1990s as senior hardware engineer at Sun Microsystems. Another, Cole Hershkowitz, leads a team building a mobile app for Blue Cross of Idaho. The Sonos ITC complaint seeks cease and desist and limited exclusion orders against Google smart speakers and other devices (see 2002060070).

Video piracy is growing during the pandemic and could continue to rise, especially because video demand is high and new content lacking, blogged Irdeto Vice President-Cybersecurity Services Peter Cossack Tuesday.

The Copyright Office Wednesday proposed three rulemakings and a notification of inquiry on the Music Modernization Act (see 2001080042). The CO sought comment in September. The first proposed rule is on license notices, data collection, usage reports, digital music provider payment, “notices of nonblanket activity and reports of usage by significant nonblanket licensees, and data collection efforts by musical work copyright owners.” Another concerns mechanical licensing collective obligations to “report and distribute royalties paid by digital music providers under the blanket license to make and distribute digital phonorecord deliveries of musical works to musical work copyright owners.” Comments on both items are due May 22. The third proposed rule defines confidential information and categories of permitted disclosure and use of information by MLC staff and members. Comments are due June 8. The NOI seeks information about MLC transparency and “the collective’s public musical work database, database access, and database use.” Those comments are due June 8.

Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group don’t have arrangements with radio stations for song placement or air time, the record labels told FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly in letters responding to his inquiry on payola (see 2001210065). O’Rielly shared the responses on Twitter, and said he will post a response from Universal once protections for confidential information are worked out. Universal’s response is expected to be similar. Sony and Warner told O’Rielly they weren’t aware of any payola arrangements and they comply with federal payola laws. "If people have credible, tangible facts disputing responses, please let me know,” tweeted O’Rielly. The commissioner indicated he may seek to relax regulations against payola (see 1911150054) but said Tuesday the issue is “not a priority given COVID-19.”

CTA’s application to register the NEXTGEN TV logo as a certification mark for ATSC 3.0-compliant TVs (see 1909260021) cleared its 30-day publication window in late March with no oppositions filed, said a notice of allowance (NOA) released Tuesday at the Patent and Trademark Office. The NOA gives CTA until Oct. 21 to file a statement of use (SOU) if it’s using the NEXTGEN TV mark in actual commerce. That's the final step before PTO can issue a registration certificate. Several TV models introduced at CES with 3.0 reception (see 2001060019) have arrived at retail, but with many stores closed or relegated to curbside pickup, TV makers are unable to promote the feature. CTA also can file for an SOU extension by Oct. 21 and do so every six months for up to three years. Oct. 21 happens to fall on the scheduled opening day of the two-day NAB Show New York event at the Javits Convention Center.

The Patent and Trademark Office’s decision to hear an inter partes review challenge isn’t reviewable on appeal, the Supreme Court ruled 7-2 Monday, siding with PTO. Justices Neil Gorsuch and Sonia Sotomayor dissented in Thryv v. Click-to-Call (18-916). Click-to-Call argued that courts should be able to review circumstances involving time limits for certain patent reviews. The case pertains to 35 U.S.C. §315(b). “Allowing §315(b) appeals would waste resources" spent on resolving patentability and would leave “bad patents enforceable,” Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote for the majority. Gorsuch said the decision “carries us another step down the road of ceding core judicial powers to agency officials and leaving the disposition of private rights and liberties to bureaucratic mercy.” The court let the agency override one of the America Invents Act’s “express limits on agency authority,” Click-to-Call attorney Daniel Geyser emailed. “It’s now a question for Congress to restore the judiciary’s traditional role in reviewing agency action and saying what the law is.”

ICANN should "reject the transfer of control over the .ORG registry to Ethos Capital," California Attorney General Xavier Becerra (D) said Thursday in a letter to the ICANN board and CEO. The AG's office, which is charged with supervising charitable trusts in the state, investigated ICANN and its role in approving the sale by the Internet Society of the Public Interest Registry to Ethos (see 2003090027). If Ethos is permitted to buy PIR, "it will no longer have the unique characteristics that ICANN valued" when it chose PIR as the nonprofit to run the registry, Becerra wrote. He accused the parties of failing to respond to some questions from ICANN, the public and the internet community, including queries about PIR's financial picture after the sale and the sale process itself. The absence of critical information is "troubling given the unique nature of the .ORG community," he said: ICANN must exercise its authority to withhold approval."