Netflix plans to begin blocking virtual private network proxy servers in the next few weeks from accessing the company’s systems. It said Thursday that the VPN blocking signals its willingness to “continue to respect and enforce” geography-based content licensing. “We are making progress in licensing content across the world and, as of last week, now offer the Netflix service in 190 countries, but we have a ways to go before we can offer people the same films and TV series everywhere,” said Vice President-Content Delivery Architecture David Fullagar in a blog post. “Over time, we anticipate being able to do so.” Netflix’s announcement came days after CEO Reed Hastings effectively endorsed consumers’ sharing of their Netflix account information as a “positive thing” during CES.

Ericsson and Huawei agreed to extend their global patent cross-licensing pact, Ericsson said in a news release Thursday. The arrangement includes a cross license covering patents on both companies' wireless standard-essential patents, including LTE standards. Under the extended agreement, both companies may "access and implement" each other's standard essential patents and technologies globally, said Ericsson. Huawei will make "on-going" royalty payments contingent upon sales to Ericsson "from 2016 and onwards," said the release.

The Patent and Trademark Office is hosting a half-day meeting for those seeking patent protection in the cybersecurity field, the PTO said in a news release Wednesday. The "collaborative forum" is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. on Feb. 10 at the PTO's San Jose office at 26 S. 4th St., and will give attendees a chance to "share ideas, experiences, and insights" with PTO's staff, the release said. Speakers include John Cabeca, Silicon Valley PTO director, and Aaron Smith, Symantec senior corporate counsel. Potential discussion topics include computer security patent application statistics and trends, enhanced patent quality initiatives and interim guidance on patent subject matter eligibility, PTO said.

Spotify is facing a second class-action lawsuit claiming the company isn’t obtaining needed mechanical licenses on copyrighted music. Independent musician Melissa Ferrick filed her $200 million suit in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles Friday, claiming Spotify has streamed her songs about 1 million times without obtaining a license. Spotify chose to outsource its licensing to the Harry Fox Agency, which has been “ill-equipped to obtain licenses for all of the songs embodied in the phonorecords distributed by Spotify,” Ferrick alleged. “Neither Spotify nor HFA directly licensed or timely issued NOIs for many of the musical compositions embodied in phonorecords that Spotify was reproducing and distributing on a daily basis,” Ferrick said of notices of intent required to be sent to copyright owners before content is used. Spotify is “committed to paying songwriters and publishers every penny,” a spokesman said in a statement Monday. “We are working closely with the National Music Publishers Association to find the best way to correctly pay the royalties we have set aside and we are investing in the resources and technical expertise to build a comprehensive publishing administration system to solve this problem for good.” Ferrick’s suit follows a similar $150 million lawsuit that David Lowery, a songwriter and University of Georgia music business lecturer, filed in December in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. Lowery, who leads the bands Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker, claimed Spotify is illegally distributing four Cracker songs (see 1512290048).

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said it’s seeking comment on its annual special 301 review process on “notorious” IP markets, which identifies “priority” countries where policies allow copyright infringement and other IP rights violations to occur. USTR’s 2015 annual special 301 report didn’t name any country as a “priority foreign country” for IP rights violations but identified China and India among 13 priority watch list countries. USTR placed 24 other countries on its lower-tier watch list (see 1504300061). Comments on the 2016 special 301 review are due Feb. 5, USTR said in Monday’s Federal Register. Foreign governments will have until Feb. 19 to file comments or notices that they intend to testify at a planned March 1 public hearing on the special 301 review, USTR said. The March 1 hearing is at USTR’s Washington, D.C., offices. USTR said it plans to release its 2016 special 301 report around April 30.

Patent and Trademark Office representatives will discuss two "evolving programs" of its enhanced patent quality initiative -- topic submission for case studies and post-grant outcomes -- during the first patent quality chat webinar of 2016, the PTO said in a news release Wednesday. The webinar is scheduled for Tuesday from noon to 1 p.m., and will feature presentations from Patent Quality Assurance Office Director Anthony Caputa, Patent Legal Administration Office Director Brian Hanlon, Technology Center Director Jack Harvey and Supervisory Patent Examiner Stephen Koziol, the PTO said.

The International Trade Commission is seeking comment by Jan. 12 on Advanced Silicon Technologies' Tariff Act Section 337 complaint for an investigation into patent infringement by imports of computing or graphics systems and vehicles containing them. Advanced Silicon said several companies import automotive in-vehicle infotainment systems that provide drivers with various amenities, such as sending texts or making phone calls, managing and playing audio and video content, and accessing content such as sports scores and weather forecasts, that infringe its patents. The petition requests a limited exclusion order and cease and desist orders banning import and sale of infringing merchandise by BMW, Harman Becker, Nvidia, Texas Instruments and other companies. None of the companies commented Tuesday. Advanced Silicon's ITC complaint, was filed Dec. 28, said the agency in a notice in the Federal Register Monday.

The Copyright Office “needs to go further” in updating its records system than its current digitization project, by repurposing existing records information “into a more modern, easy-to-use database," said Adobe Associate General Counsel Scott Evans in a Tuesday blog post. “Getting new copyrights registered and finding information about existing copyrights is not easy, and can become a major obstacle for those looking to create and protect their intellectual property without infringing on someone else’s. Given the Copyright Office’s importance to the creative process, the current copyright system does not do justice to the community it serves.” Completely overhauling the CO’s current records system “would save a huge amount of time and money that is currently spent on avoidable legal issues” involving inadvertent misuse of copyrighted material likely caused by difficulties accessing copyright records via the existing CO system, Evans said. If the CO “doesn’t modernize, it could seriously jeopardize future creative leadership because there is no system at this point that works efficiently for the creative community,” he said. “It is also time for Congress to revisit the Copyright Act and make the revisions necessary to bring the U.S. copyright law in line with current technological innovation.”

The Copyright Royalty Board published notices in Tuesday’s Federal Register for three new proceedings to set royalty rates for 2018-2022, as expected (see 1601040069). One of the proceedings will set royalties for public digital performances of sound recordings via satellite radio and “preexisting subscription services.” The other proceedings deal with mechanical royalties and royalties for public performances of musical compositions by NPR, PBS affiliates and other noncommercial broadcasters. Petitions to participate in all three proceedings are due Feb. 4.

The Copyright Royalty Board said it’s beginning three new proceedings to set music royalty rights for 2018-2022. One proceeding will deal with public digital performances of sound recordings via satellite radio and “preexisting subscription services” like SiriusXM’s satellite service. The proceeding’s outcome will also apply to cable radio’s “pre-existing subscription services,” CRB said in a draft notice to be published in Tuesday’s Federal Register. The other CRB proceedings will deal with mechanical royalties and royalties for public performances of musical compositions by NPR, PBS affiliates and other noncommercial broadcasters, the CRB said. The mechanical royalties proceeding “is one proceeding where the record labels and the digital music services are actually more or less on the same side -- litigating against the publishing companies and songwriters over how much is paid for the use of the words and music of a particular song,” said Wilkinson Barker broadcast attorney David Oxenford in a blog post Monday. Assuming the proceedings appear in Tuesday’s Federal Register, interested parties would need to file petitions to participate by Feb. 4, with hearings on the proceedings likely occurring in 2017, Oxenford said.