The Office of U.S. Trade Representative soon will publish a Federal Register notice setting the 25 percent third tranche tariff increase (see 1905060028) to take effect 12:01 a.m. Friday, USTR Robert Lighthizer told a media briefing Monday. China confirmed Tuesday that Vice Premier Liu He will lead the delegation that travels to Washington for the 11th round of U.S. trade talks opening Thursday. China regards it as “natural to have differences in a negotiation,” a Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson responded to Lighthizer’s allegations that the talks derailed last week in Beijing after China reneged on previously negotiated commitments. “The Chinese side will not sidestep differences and has good faith in continuing consultations,” said the spokesperson.

Qualcomm expects to record revenue gains in Q3 ending June 30 of between $4.5 billion and $4.7 billion from its global settlement with Apple, said finance chief Dave Wise on a fiscal Q2 call Wednesday. The gains include a one-time “cash payment” from Apple and the “release of related liabilities,” plus “go-forward royalties,” he said. Apple will take a six-year license from Qualcomm with an option for two more years, and will source Qualcomm chipsets for a “multiyear” term, said CEO Steve Mollenkopf. The settlement is “a significant milestone, as it is Qualcomm's first patent license agreement directly with Apple,” rather than through Apple’s contract manufacturers, he said. “There's a lot of tension removed out of the system as a result of these settlements,” he said. “I really like the opportunity to have the two teams just working together on products in the future.” Qualcomm downgraded its forecast for calendar 2019 smartphone chipset sales by 50 million units to 1.85 billion units “due to continued weakness in China and a lengthening of the handset replacement cycle, potentially reflecting a pause in advance of 5G rollouts,” said Wise. “We now expect global handset units to decline slightly year over year.” Global smartphone shipments declined 6.6 percent to 310.8 million units, “a clear sign that 2019 will be another down year,” said IDC Tuesday (see 1905010173).

Best Buy’s private-label Insignia smart TVs infringe an 11-year-old patent in how they enable owners to use discovery and launch (DIAL) technology to “cast” content to an Insignia set from a smartphone, alleged a complaint Tuesday (in Pacer) in U.S. District Court in Wilmington, Delaware. Plaintiff Cassiopeia IP owns all “rights of recovery” to U.S. patent 7,322,046 and “is entitled to a monetary judgment in an amount adequate to compensate” it for Best Buy’s infringement, it said. The patent was originally assigned to Siemens in January 2008, Patent and Trademark Office records show. It describes a method for secure use of a network service using a “blackboard on which all usable services are entered,” said the complaint. A blackboard is a software or hardware “component” that stores all available devices and applications a user “can cast to,” it said. The technology embedded in the patent improved network services “at the time of the invention by providing a secure way” to use them, it said. The Insignia TVs perform seven steps of DIAL functionality, all in “direct infringement” of the patent, it said. Best Buy didn’t comment Wednesday.

The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement on free trade “would modernize and strengthen protections for Americans' copyrighted works,” but “takes a decidedly un-modern approach to online copyright infringement that takes place on user-upload websites” like YouTube, blogged Free State Foundation Senior Fellow Seth Cooper Thursday. USMCA “could perpetuate the significantly under-protective notice and takedown system that prevails in U.S. copyright law,” he said. The Trump administration and Congress “should make clear that the USMCA's online infringement provisions are not precedent for future trade agreements,” he said.

In digital markets, “as in all markets,” DOJ’s Antitrust Division “advocates for a careful application of the competition laws that takes into account both the short-term and long-term effects on innovation,” Deputy Assistant Attorney General Roger Alford told the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan Wednesday in Tokyo. “Preserving incentives to innovate is also important to Japan, a leader in innovation and technology,” he said. “American consumers benefit greatly from Japanese inventions across different industries. The Sony Walkman was a breakthrough technology that gave music lovers like me a way to listen to music on the go.” Strong intellectual property protections are “key for unlocking innovation,” he said. The Antitrust Division “has sought to curb the misapplication of antitrust law in this area,” he said. “In our view, there should be no free-standing obligation to license patent rights under antitrust law. Similarly, we believe that an unconditional refusal to license a patent, on its own, does not give rise to antitrust liability. We are concerned that using the antitrust laws to police the exercise of an exclusive intellectual property right ultimately will undermine the incentives to innovate and engage in dynamic competition.”

The Trump administration recognizes the need for “striking the balance of an open research environment and safeguarding American assets and intellectual property,” Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Kelvin Droegemeier wrote Tuesday. He noted “cutting-edge technologies” are shaping American jobs: “The American free market system is unmatched in pushing the boundaries of science and technology, and our continued global leadership is dependent upon removing obstacles to achieve our full potential.”

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested a Laguna Hills, California, man last week on federal charges he ran a scheme that smuggled $72 million worth of counterfeit Apple and Samsung smartphone parts from China for sale online in the U.S., said the agency Thursday. Chan Hung Le, 44, faces up to 45 years in prison for conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and to traffic in counterfeit goods, among other charges, said ICE. Le, through a company he owns in Irvine, California, called EZ Elektronix, smuggled counterfeit iPhone and Galaxy components and used “various tactics” to avoid detection by U.S., Hong Kong and Chinese customs authorities, it said. ICE alleges Le tried to conceal the scheme by using multiple business names and addresses, plus “virtual offices” and post office boxes, in at least three states. Once the counterfeit products arrived, Le “distributed the parts to the public through various online stores that falsely claimed the parts were genuine,” it said. Attempts to reach Le’s lawyers for comment Monday were unsuccessful.

Apple and Qualcomm announced a patent dispute settlement Tuesday, dismissing all worldwide litigation between the tech companies (see 1903270012). The deal includes an undisclosed payment from Apple to Qualcomm. A six-year license agreement, effective April 1, carries a two-year extension option. The two sides also reached a multiyear chipset supply agreement. Qualcomm closed 23.2 percent higher at $70.45 Tuesday, and Apple closed virtually flat at $199.25.

Sony is seeking a permanent injunction against a Florida entrepreneur on Lanham Act “trademark dilution” allegations for doing business under the names “Soni Interiors” and “SoniTex USA” without a Sony license, court documents show. “Defendant’s SONI Marks so closely resemble Sony’s distinctive and famous SONY mark that they are likely to dilute the distinctive quality of the SONY mark,” said the complaint (in Pacer) Friday in U.S. District Court in Orlando. “The SONI portion of the SONI Marks is identical in pronunciation and nearly identical in appearance to the famous SONY mark,” it said. Consumers "are likely to pronounce 'SoniTex USA' as 'SONY-tex USA,' making it phonetically identical and highly similar to SONY in overall commercial impression," said the complaint. People also are likely to get the "false and misleading impression that 'SoniTex USA' is Sony’s U.S. textile, fabric, or furnishing unit," it said. Sony runs no such subsidiary in the U.S., emailed Sony America spokesperson Lisa Gephardt Monday. SoniTex is a manufacturer and wholesale distributor of kitchen cabinets, bathroom vanities, flooring materials and other home-improvement products, and sells them to the public through an affiliated Soni Interiors warehouse store in Sanford, Florida. Deep Soni, as the owner of both enterprises, applied at the Patent and Trademark Office six years ago to register those names as U.S. trademarks, said the complaint. Sony successfully blocked both applications before PTO’s Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) on the same trademark-dilution grounds as in the complaint, it said. PTO records show the agency declared the applications dead in April 2015 and January 2016 after owner Soni let both lapse without meeting PTO's deadlines for challenging the TTAB's rulings. Roughly two dozen "valid and subsisting" registered trademarks are on file at PTO embedded with the Sony logo, said the complaint. "They constitute conclusive evidence of the validity of the registered mark, of Sony’s ownership of the mark, and of Sony’s exclusive right to use the registered mark in commerce." Though Sony doesn't object to "the fair use of ‘Soni’ as a last name, Defendant’s current use does not constitute fair use,” said the complaint. "Defendant seeks to derive a commercial benefit from the value and goodwill associated with the SONY mark," and "unless enjoined," will continue "its unlawful activities and continue to injure Sony," it said. Soni's representatives didn’t comment Monday.

A "piecemeal" approach to patent revision might be more realistic than comprehensive legislation, American Enterprise Institute adjunct fellow Michael Rosen blogged Monday. Rosen lauded the reintroduction of Rep. Michael Burgess’, R-Texas, Targeting Rogue and Opaque Letters (Trol) Act. Introduced in each session since 2015, the legislation targets abusers who send “meritless letters to companies demanding payment for their patents.” Violations would fall under “an unfair or deceptive act or practice.” Comprehensive legislation has “gone nowhere,” but “more limited measures like Burgess’ bill may have a higher chance of becoming law,” Rosen said.