Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden removed Maria Pallante as register of copyrights Friday and appointed her to a new role as senior adviser for digital strategy. Associate Register of Copyrights Karyn Temple Claggett will be acting register pending a national search for a permanent replacement, the LOC said. Pallante had led the Copyright Office since 2011. Pallante will advise Hayden on LOC’s digital strategy, digital materials preservation and digital content partnerships with third parties, LOC said. “I want to move aggressively toward making our collections as widely accessible as possible," Hayden said in a news release. "I need focused expertise in the areas of copyright and licensing to ensure we execute these plans in full consideration of copyright protections. This is an opportunity not only to expand collections access, but to integrate education about the nation’s copyright system into that process.” Pallante's job switch is the first major personnel move AT loc since Hayden was sworn in last month (see 1609140053). Hayden succeeded longtime Librarian of Congress James Billington, who faced criticism for not modernizing critical LOC IT systems (see 1503310046).

No court previously addressed the particular copyright issues involving a conduit ISP that came up in BMG v. Cox Communications, so there "was nothing objectively unreasonable" about the cable operator's staking out a position adhering to the Copyright Act, the ISP said in an opposition (in Pacer) Monday to the plaintiff's motion for $10.48 million in attorney's fees and $2.92 million in expenses (see 1610030005). The Supreme Court's decision earlier this year in Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons made clear that awarding fees in a case that meaningfully clarifies the law doesn't serve the Copyright Act, Cox said. The company said that in seeking the award, BMG is ignoring the novelty of the legal issues and instead "attempt[ing] to re-litigate virtually every skirmish, disagreement and discovery dispute, wrongly portraying Cox as wearing the black hat in every instance." Cox said the $25 million jury award given the music company includes compensation and deterrence, but even if the court wanted to award fees, BMG is seeking far too much, given the jury's split decision and the few remedies BMG sought -- such as its unsuccessful vicarious liability claim and permanent injunction -- that it achieved. BMG didn't comment Tuesday.

The International Trade Commission last week began a Tariff Act Section 337 investigation into allegations that imports of integrated circuits with voltage regulators made by Intel and incorporated into products from Dell, HP Inc. and Hewlett Packard Enterprise infringe patents held by R2 Semiconductor, the ITC said. In a complaint filed Sept. 12, R2 said Intel’s microprocessors with Fully Integrated Voltage Regulator voltage spike protection copy its patented technologies and are being manufactured and imported without a license. The ITC will decide whether to issue a limited exclusion order and cease and desist orders banning import and sale of infringing microprocessors, plus downstream products that include them. Dell, HP, HP Enterprise and Intel didn't comment Monday.

The Library of Congress plans to launch an electronic filing system next year for all Copyright Royalty Board proceedings, the CRB said Monday. The LOC plans to complete work on the e-filing system by spring, with the system then set to “go live later in the year,” the CRB emailed stakeholders. The CRB is aiming to “create a system that is both user-friendly and technologically effective,” the board said. The contractor developing the system is seeking input from CRB stakeholders “about the best and the least valuable aspects of electronic filing systems with which they have experience,” the board said. “Many attorneys who represent parties to [CRB] proceedings may have relevant experience with federal and state court electronic filing systems they may wish to share. Or parties who routinely filed documents with the CRB or appear at hearings may wish to comment on features and processes they would like to see in the system.” The CRB said it plans to make the e-filing system mandatory for “most filers” after an “appropriate” transition period, and will issue an NPRM on such a rule change.

Yahoo wants billboards and other public advertising to be “smart.” In patent application 14/675,004 filed at the Patent and Trademark Office Oct. 6, based on a March 2015 filing, Yahoo said it’s looking at ways to pull data from consumers’ devices to make messaging more efficient. The patent describes ways that advertising channels in public spaces can be configured to deliver “adaptive and targeted advertising in real time.” It refers to “sensor data” collected from user devices employed to monitor consumer engagement with ads. Unlike online advertising that’s personalized to individual users, the patent covers what Yahoo calls "grouplization," where advertising content is chosen based on an “aggregate representation” of the target audience that’s derived from real-time information. A billboard could be equipped with digital cameras that capture images or video of vehicles approaching the billboard. Using image recognition, information about the makes and models of the vehicles on the road could be used “to further inform the selection of advertisements” based on demographic characteristics. Sensor data could include “keywords spoken” by consumers near the billboard, the speed of the vehicle they’re traveling in or video data indicating whether any individuals looked directly at the advertising content using image recognition or eye-tracking techniques. Where an advertising display includes a touch screen, direct user interaction could be measured. Advertisers could compete for placement through bids based on aggregate audience profiles. Ad content intended for a digital billboard “might need to comply with traffic safety regulations that prohibit video content from being displayed,” it said.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation said it supports liquid sweetener company Heartland Food Products Group's petition to the Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari seeking a review of 28 U.S.C. Section 1400(b), which requires a plaintiff to bring a patent infringement lawsuit only in a U.S. District Court where the defendant resides or where the defendant has an “established place of business.” Heartland is seeking a high court review of an April Federal Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in Heartland v. Kraft Foods Group Brands against Heartland's push for stronger limits on patent suit venues. The Federal Circuit since 1990 has said Section 1400 “means that companies that sold products nationwide can be sued in any federal court in the country on charges of patent infringement, regardless of how tenuous the connection to that court,” said EFF Staff Attorney Vera Ranieri in a Thursday blog post. Ranieri said the FTC report on its study of the business practices of patent assertion entities found 53 percent of lawsuits by entities in the study occurred in the U.S. District Court based out of Tyler, Texas (see 1610060045). Unbridled venue rules have “led to a remarkable situation of forum shopping in patent cases,” EFF and Public Knowledge said in a joint amicus brief. “Even more remarkably, evidence suggests that this arrangement may be drawing courts into competition to attract patent owners -- the ones with unilateral choice over forum -- by adopting practices and procedures favorable to patent owners.” Forum shopping “has tangible, substantive effects on outcomes, a result contrary to principles of law and contrary to the very existence of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, an institution designed to eliminate a perceived problem with forum shopping for favorable substantive patent law,” EFF and PK said. HP, Oracle and 30 other companies also are jointly backing Heartland's petition to the Supreme Court.

The Gospel stage play Scissors shares no substantial similarities with the Barbershop movie franchise and the Showtime TV series based on it, said WB Studio Enterprises, MGM Studios and Showtime Networks in a motion to dismiss (in Pacer) filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. Scissors revolves around issues of faith and modern societal issues, but "Barbershop, in stark contrast, has nothing to do with religion at all and it does not address any of the issues threading each of Scissors' plotlines," WB and the others said. Plaintiff playwright Ronald Dickerson "cannot claim an exclusive monopoly on creative works set in a barbershop," they said, saying minus that setting the only remaining similarities are stock plot devices and character elements, which themselves don't warrant protection under copyright law. Dickerson, in his copyright infringement complaint (in Pacer) filed earlier this year, said the films contained numerous instances that "seem to be lifted directly from events in Scissors" and sought $20 million in damages.

Needham Insights said the music industry’s future is at risk, though streaming services like Pandora and Spotify “have saved the music business from extinction.” Recorded music revenue stayed “essentially flat” at an annual $15 billion globally since 2010, with streaming services now growing substantially as a share of the market while retail sales continue to shrink, Needham said in a report Monday. Pandora and Spotify are continuing to operate at a loss, so “until their financial futures are secure, a meaningful proportion of music industry revenue is dependent on public and private investors’ willingness to continue to fund their losses,” Needham said. “Any 'Black Swan' event (like 9/11) that closes capital market access could disrupt the entire music industry virtually overnight.” Black Swan theory events are “unexpected events of large magnitude and consequence and their dominant role in history,” Needham said.

CTA President Gary Shapiro lauded the FTC report on the business activities of patent assertion entities. The report said "litigation” PAEs are responsible for 96 percent of all patent infringement lawsuits brought by entities included in the review. Patent royalties generated by litigation PAEs' licensing agreements were generally less than the threshold for patent litigation costs, which showed those entities’ suits qualify as “nuisance” lawsuits, the FTC said. The agency made several recommendations to balance the rights of defendants during the early stages of patent suits brought by PAEs (see 1610060045). The FTC report shows “how sleazy” PAEs “operate,” Shapiro said in a statement. “We are pleased that the FTC report calls for many of the critical reforms for which CTA is advocating, including heightened pleading standards and discovery reforms that would make these illegitimate troll cases more transparent and help victims fight back. Moreover, the findings from this report underscore the need to pass legislation … to preserve our nation's entrepreneurial spirit and grow our innovation economy.” The Computer & Communications Industry Association and Internet Association were among those who praised the report.

The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against an appeal of a 2015 U.S. District Court ruling in New York that dismissed author Cheryl Smith’s copyright infringement lawsuit against Barnes & Noble. Smith claimed B&N continued to allow its users to download an online sample of the e-book The Hardscrabble Zone, written by her late husband, Louis K. Smith, after he terminated a contract with third-party firm Smashwords to advertise the e-book on B&N. One of the retailer’s users was able to download the e-book sample to a mobile device via B&N’s “digital locker” cloud storage system even though the retailer already had deleted the sample from its website. District Judge Andrew Carter said B&N wasn’t liable for contributory copyright infringement because the digital locker system was widely used for legitimate purposes. Circuit Judge Dennis Jacobs, in opinion Thursday for the three-judge 2nd Circuit panel, said “the conduct at issue was authorized by the relevant contracts between the parties.” There was no dispute in the case “that the plaintiff has a valid copyright, but the plaintiff must also be able to demonstrate that the copying was unauthorized,” the 2nd Circuit said. “Where, as here, the existence of the license is undisputed, and the only contested issue is its scope, the copyright owner bears the burden of proving that the defendant’s conduct was unauthorized under the license.” Once the customer acquired the cloud-based sample, “the service that Barnes & Noble provided was no longer distribution; the service provided was access,” the 2nd Circuit said. “Because the agreement does not provide for the license in the sample to terminate after the sample has been distributed, the plaintiff cannot sustain her burden to prove that providing cloud-based access to validly obtained samples is beyond the scope of the license agreement.” Judges Amalya Kearse and Ralph Winter joined Jacobs in affirming the New York district court ruling. Smith lawyer Carlos Leyva didn't comment.