Viavi seeks a ban on imports of LG smartphones that infringe its patents, alleged the company Nov. 14 in a Tariff Act Section 337 complaint (login required) at the International Trade Commission, said Monday’s Federal Register. Viavi said LG's incorporating optical filters and optical sensor systems into its smartphones and tablets that provide 3D depth-sensing and gesture-recognition capabilities. Those optical filters and sensor systems are made by Optrontec and LG Innotek, which sell the components to LG for embedding in its smartphones before they’re imported to the U.S. Viavi requests a limited exclusion order and cease and desist orders against LG Electronics, LG Innotek and Optrontec barring import and sale of infringing devices, optical filters and optical sensor systems. Comments are due Dec. 3. LGE declined comment. LG Innotek and Optrontec didn't answer email queries.

DOJ’s Antitrust Division Friday asked to terminate the Paramount consent decrees, which regulate how certain movie studios distribute films to theaters. The decrees “served their original remedial purposes and no longer serve to promote or protect competition and innovation,” Justice announced. "New technology has created many different movie platforms that did not exist when the decrees were entered into, including cable and broadcast television, DVDs, and the Internet through movie streaming and download services." The request went to U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The division found the decrees' "continued existence may actually harm American consumers by standing in the way of innovative business models for the exhibition of America’s great creative films,” said Antitrust Chief Makan Delrahim.

Lawmakers introduced legislation Thursday that would require radio services “pay fair market value” to musicians. The Ask Musicians for Music (AM-FM) Act is from Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y. Blackburn seeks to attach its language to a Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization measure, to secure a radio performance royalty (see 1911210052). The U.S. is an "outlier" for not requiring radio pay artists, "while requiring satellite and internet radio to pay,” Nadler said. RIAA CEO Mitch Glazier said the bill would require “broadcasters to get permission from music creators to use their music in the same way broadcasters are entitled to give permission for the use of their signal.” NAB opposed the measure. CEO Gordon Smith noted a bipartisan group of 201 House members and 25 senators co-sponsored the Local Radio Freedom Act, "a resolution opposing any new performance fee on local radio."

The Supreme Court agreed to hear Google’s appeal of a ruling that it illegally copied Oracle’s programming code in Android (see 1903280061, docket 18-956). Oracle sued Google in 2010, claiming Google violated copyright law by using about 11,000 lines of Java programming code. Google claimed fair use. Oracle, which won a federal appeals court decision in 2018, is seeking some $9 billion in damages. Oracle is confident the high court “will preserve long established copyright protections for original software and reject Google’s continuing efforts to avoid responsibility for copying Oracle’s innovations,” a spokesperson emailed Friday. “We believe the Court will reject any reasoning that permits copying verbatim vast amounts of software code, used for the same purpose and same way as the original.” Google hopes the high court “reaffirms the importance of software interoperability in American competitiveness,” wrote Senior Vice President-Global Affairs Kent Walker. “Developers should be able to create applications across platforms and not be locked into one company's software.”

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman James Inhofe, R-Okla., and Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., wrote President Donald Trump Wednesday about Chinese telecom equipment manufacturers' “ongoing refusal to pay lawfully owed licensing fees to U.S. developers of standards-based wireless technology.” Chinese manufacturers Huawei and ZTE, neither of which is identified in the letter, are under FCC and Capitol Hill scrutiny (see 1909270063). A draft FCC proposal would bar USF funding for the purchase of telecom equipment from companies “posing a national security threat to the integrity of communications networks or the communications supply chain.” The order is seen as targeted at Huawei and ZTE (see 1910300036). Inhofe and Wicker urged Trump to address “this flagrant and willful decision by Chinese companies to ignore the intellectual property rights of the U.S.” and other countries “as a part of your ongoing trade negotiations with China.” The Chinese manufacturers' decision not to “adhere to” licensing laws “not only undermines faith in a world-recognized system of license fee payments, it also exposes the ambition of certain Chinese companies to unfairly seek an advantage over other law-abiding companies,” Inhofe and Wicker said. “We must change the ability of Chinese companies to access the U.S. market while simultaneously eroding the ability of the U.S. and other Western market-based companies to maintain their leading role in the research and development of advanced wireless technology.” The White House didn't comment.

Apple, Fitbit and SVS Sound were the first tech companies to seek product exclusions from the 15 percent fourth-tranche tariffs after the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative began accepting exemption requests Thursday. Apple filed 11 requests, and Specialty Technologies, which does business as SVS, filed two. There's one each for the finished speakers and subwoofers it sources from China. Many of Apple's exclusion requests were for parts, components and accessories. Some were for “final” products sourced as finished goods from China, including the Apple Watch, iMac desktop, HomePod smart speaker and AirPods wireless earbuds, said the docket. “Apple has not identified a source outside of China that is able to meet U.S. demand for this product in the coming year,” said each application. The product is “not strategically important” to Made in China 2025 “or other Chinese industrial programs,” said each application. The company didn’t comment Friday. Fitbit "began to adjust its operations" almost immediately after the Trump administration proposed tariffs on smartwatches and fitness trackers sourced from China, said the company. It "anticipates being able to make substantial additional changes to its supply chain in the foreseeable future." The company will shift production to "outside China" starting in January for “effectively all of its trackers and smartwatches” (see 1910090025). It announced Friday an agreement to be bought by Google for $2.1 billion (see separate report, this issue). The public has two weeks to comment, and requesters have seven days to respond. Importers can file through Jan. 31 at USTR’s online portal. The docket posted about 80 requests from various industries that were filed the first day. Any exclusions granted would be good for a year and would be retroactive to Sept. 1 when 4A tranche took effect.

The Copyright Royalty Board wants comment by Nov. 20 for proposed regulations on rates and terms for digital performance of sound recordings and making associated ephemeral copies. Minimum yearly fees for 2021-25 are $550, $600, $650, $700 and $750.

The Copyright Office scheduled a Dec. 6 symposium to help determine best practices for the Music Modernization Act’s Mechanical Licensing Collective (see 1812210051). The event will explore how to “identify copyright owners and unclaimed royalties of musical works while encouraging copyright owners to claim royalties and ultimately reduce the occurrence of unclaimed royalties,” CO said.

Comments are due Nov. 6 on an EcoFactor Tariff Act Section 337 complaint with the International Trade Commission, alleging imports of smart thermostats and smart heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems infringe its patents, said Tuesday's Federal Register. EcoFactor says Ecobee, Google, Alarm.com, Daikin Industries, Schneider Electric and Vivint are importing the infringing products. EcoFactor seeks a limited exclusion order and cease and desist orders banning import and sale of infringing smart thermostats and HVAC systems by the companies identified. "We are confident that our products do not violate any third party patents and that this claim will not adversely affect our commercial objectives," emailed Schneider Electric. The other companies didn't comment.

Customs and Border Protection is delaying to Nov. 15 comments on its proposal to amend regulations to allow disclosure of information to trademark holders on voluntarily abandoned shipments, says Tuesday's Federal Register notice. The proposed rule would align information sharing procedures for voluntarily abandoned merchandise with procedures for seized merchandise, allowing CBP to better address trademark infringement by way of e-commerce shipments. Comments were due Monday.