The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative seeks comment by Oct. 1, rebuttals by Oct. 15 on "notorious markets" for intellectual property theft for its annual list, USTR said in Thursday's Federal Register on docket USTR-2018-0027.

A group of music labels is seeking to have ISP Grande Communications' Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) safe harbor defense claims thrown out. In a docket 17-cv-00365-LY motion (in Pacer) for partial summary judgment filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Austin, the music labels said that DMCA safe harbor requires ISPs to adopt and reasonably implement a policy for terminating repeat copyright infringers' accounts, but that Grande acknowledged it had no such policy for the relevant time period. They said Grande never terminated a repeat infringer until June 2017, after the suit was brought. They said a ruling that Grande isn't entitled to a DMCA safe harbor defense would "significantly streamline" the case and promote a speedier resolution. Grande outside counsel didn't comment Thursday.

Strategies for reducing exposure to U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports (see 1808030028) were discussed on Universal Electronics and GoPro Q2 earnings calls Thursday. Universal is developing plans to "mitigate" such costs by "gradually" shifting production of its "highest-priority or highest-volume" goods "out of China and into existing facilities that we have in Mexico or Brazil,” said CEO Paul Arling. The “vast majority” of Universal’s remote controls are manufactured in its Chinese factories, Arling testified against the tariffs at a July 24 Office of U.S. Trade Representative hearing. Shifting production “will take months to complete, which means that we may incur additional costs during the transition as we expect some of these additional tariffs to be implemented somewhere in late September or probably into October,” said Arling now. GoPro has escaped the tariffs, said CEO Nicholas Woodman. If that changes, Woodman thinks GoPro would be able to shift production easily to “two locations” without tariff exposure. Friday, GoPro closed up 18 percent at $7.05 and Universal gained 26 percent to end the day at $44.95.

China should continue to strengthen antitrust enforcement agencies, improve pro-innovation structures like intellectual property rights, and challenge government-created barriers to competition, said FTC Commissioner Maureen Ohlhausen Tuesday in Beijing. “Negative effects of government intervention in markets can be even more problematic than the actions of private actors.” She recommended Chinese antitrust enforcers follow the FTC's and DOJ’s example of focusing efforts on consumer welfare, not impacts to corporate competition. She warned Chinese authorities against using antitrust enforcement tools as a means for protecting domestic companies and industries against foreign competition. China started enforcing a new antitrust law in 2008, the same year its three anti-monopoly law agencies signed a memorandum of understanding with the FTC and DOJ. Ohlhausen credited China for continuing a joint dialogue with U.S. regulators, including Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim. She commended the China State Council’s June 2016 decision to establish a fair competition review system to prevent “excessive and inappropriate government intervention.” She emphasized China’s need to strengthen IP rights, as U.S. businesses accuse the Chinese of stealing IP information from American companies. “The countries that protect IP rights within their borders tend to foster innovation, those that fail to create the necessary predicates to investments in innovation lag behind,” said Ohlhausen.

Fitbit continues to worry about tariffs, its finance chief said shortly after the Trump administration said it might impose 25 percent (up from 10 percent) tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese products over intellectual property disagreements (see 1808010078). The company is “navigating a number of different paths” to reduce or eliminate such exposure, said Chief Financial Officer Ron Kisling on a Wednesday evening earnings call. Fitbit uses Chinese contract manufacturers to produce its devices, and tariffs would increase the bill of materials costs of goods it imports to the U.S., said Kisling. There’s no certainty whether the tariffs “will ultimately go into effect,” or if wearable devices can qualify for tariff “exemptions,” or “how much, if any, of the potential increase in cost can be mitigated,” said Kisling. The full-year forecast “excludes the potential impact,” he said. “We support open markets and free trade where everyone plays by the rules.” One proposed tariff line “covers a wide variety of wireless products, including fitness trackers and smartwatches, which comprise nearly all of Fitbit's products,” said the company in comments July 27 asking to testify against the duties. Also, following Q2 results, the company's stock closed down 7.9 percent Thursday at $5.45.

The Senate should pass the Music Modernization Act without a controversial amendment floated (see 1807250037) by Texas GOP Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, said broadcaster associations from all states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico Wednesday. The bill, which passed the House and the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously, “reflects historic consensus” by every group from songwriters to record labels, streaming services and broadcasters, they wrote Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

Samsung filed EU and U.S. trademark applications last week that hint at the promotional tagline the company will use when it begins marketing 8K TVs, records show. Samsung wants to register the phrase, “Turn everything you love into 8K,” for an international class of goods that includes TVs, mobile phones and smartwatches, said a Patent and Trademark Office application. The company didn't comment Monday.

The Streaming Video Alliance said there are many considerations for implementing forensic watermarking as a route to preventing piracy of online video. A document outlines techniques.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Friday rejected the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe’s request for tribal sovereign immunity from inter partes review. That got praise from the Software & Information Industry Association. In Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe v. Mylan Pharmaceuticals, Allergan tried to block the Patent and Trademark Office from re-examining a patent, which a court had invalidated, by selling it to a tribe claiming immunity. SIIA Vice President-Intellectual Property Christopher Mohr called Friday’s order (in Pacer) a win for innovation: “When Congress passed the America Invents Act, it recognized that inter partes proceedings are critical to ensuring patent quality. The Federal Circuit's decision not only ensures the soundness of that system, it also promotes fundamental fairness because when it comes to IPR, every patent owner has to play by the same set of rules.”

A “wide range” of Apple products, including the iPhone X, uses a lead-free solder alloy in violation of a January 2001 patent (6,176,947), alleged the patent’s owner, Singapore Asahi Chemical & Solder Industries, in a complaint (in Pacer) filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Cleveland. Asahi, a global manufacturer and distributor of solder products and related chemicals, bought the patents in March 2002 from two Cleveland-area inventors, said the complaint. The inventors recognized that “traditional” lead-tin solder alloys faced a “limited future,” so they devised alloys “to meet the increasing level of performance needed in solder joints as required by the continued advancements in integrated circuit and IC package technologies,” said the complaint. It’s those lead-free alloys that are incorporated into Apple products without an Asahi license, it said. Asahi gave Apple written notice of the alleged infringement “at least as early” as July 2017, it said. “Despite such previous written notice, Apple continues to infringe Asahi’s patent rights.” Apple didn’t comment Thursday.