Aqua Connect and subsidiary Strategic Technology Partners are seeking a limited exclusion order banning import of Apple computers and mobile devices, they said in a Tariff Act Section 337 complaint filed Oct. 10. The complaint said Mac computers running macOS 10.7 or above; iPhones, iPads and iPods running iOS 5 or above; and Apple TV products, second generation and above, copy Strategic Technology Partners’ patented screen-sharing technology. The companies asked the International Trade Commission to also issue a cease and desist order against Apple. Comments are due Oct. 25, the ITC said in Tuesday's Federal Register. Apple didn't comment.
Strong copyright protections should be included in the North American Free Trade Agreement, CreativeFuture said in a petition with "over 50,000 signatures." Creative communities can't afford the job losses that would result if NAFTA ends up with "weak provisions" on intellectual property, it said. The group worries that "the agenda of behemoth Silicon Valley companies" will erode copyright protections and undermine U.S. exports.
The complaint brought by the daughter of the late Brazilian artist Lygia Pape accusing LG of using her mother’s artwork to promote the launch of the K20 V smartphone without her permission (see 1706300034) was settled out of court, said a dismissal order (in Pacer) signed Thursday by U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn in Manhattan. Paula Pape repeatedly rejected LG’s requests to use her mother’s original artwork, but LG went ahead anyway and ran “a derivative image” created from the artwork in its consumer packaging, advertising and promotions for the K20 V, plus on the wallpaper of the actual device, said her June 29 complaint, which she later expanded to include AT&T, Cricket Wireless, MobilePCS, T-Mobile and Verizon as defendants. Settlement terms weren't disclosed. Representatives for LG and Pape didn’t comment Friday.
The copyright infringement and Digital Millennium Copyright Act violation complaints against streaming service VidAngel (see 1708110038) added Marvel, New Line and Turner as plaintiffs. An amended docket 16-cv-04109 complaint (in Pacer) filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles with the additional plaintiffs follows a stipulation (in Pacer) filed last month by original plaintiffs Disney, Lucasfilm, Fox and Warner Bros. asking to file the amended complaint with the additional plaintiffs. Separately, Judge Andre Birotte of Los Angeles on Thursday granted (in Pacer) the content companies $12,706 they sought in attorneys' fees for their response to a VidAngel motion that the court said was baseless and filed in bad faith. VidAngel General Counsel David Quinto told us the additional plaintiffs are all subsidiaries of the existing plaintiffs and were added in an attempt to multiply any damage claim against VidAngel and put it out of business. He also said he didn't understand the sanctions based on a single motion when VidAngel hadn't been engaged in a pattern of conduct, as is typically the case when such an award is made.
The U.S. should stay in the North American Free Trade Agreement, while focusing on strengthening the intellectual property provisions in the accord with Canada and Mexico, Free State Foundation President Randolph May blogged Friday. “Stronger IP rights protections will incentivize more innovation and investment in all three NAFTA member countries,” May wrote. “With $1.3 trillion in annual economy activity and 14 million jobs on the line in the United States, President [Donald] Trump should not be focusing on withdrawing from NAFTA but rather on updating the treaty.”
International Trade Commission Administrative Law Judge David Shaw expects by Sept. 21 to recommend to the ITC his “initial determination” whether Hisense infringed Sharp’s smart TV patents as Sharp alleged in its Aug. 29 Tariff Act Section 337 complaint (see 1709050045), Shaw said in an order (login required) signed Wednesday and posted in docket 337-TA-1072. Shaw set a January 2019 target date for the ITC to complete its investigation. He plans an evidentiary hearing on Sharp’s allegations in mid-May.
The MPAA identified close to two dozen linking and streaming websites, direct download cyberlockers and streaming video hosting services, website portals for piracy apps, peer-to-peer networks, advertising networks and hosting providers that it says represent the scope and nature of online content theft. A letter to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative spelling out "notorious markets" outside the U.S. made public Tuesday said streaming piracy enabled by piracy devices preloaded with software for viewing of movie and TV programming is "an emerging global threat." It said the most popular such software is Kodi, and the growth of such piracy is "startling," with 6 percent of North American households having a Kodi device configured to access pirated content. Kodi didn't comment Wednesday. Streaming sites named include Sweden's Fmovies.is and Russia's Movie4k.tv, and direct download cyberlocker sites named include Ukraine's Nowvideos.sx. Website portals singled out in the MPAA letter include Thailand's IpPlayBox.tv and related sites, P2P networks include ThePirateBay.org and Switzerland's 1337x.to, hosting providers include Netbrella, and ad networks include Canada's WWWPromoter.
Samsung is “looking into” the Tessera Technologies complaint at the International Trade Commission alleging various Samsung mobile devices infringe two Tessera patents (see 1709290044), a Samsung spokesman said Monday. Samsung “will take necessary measures accordingly," said the spokesman. Tessera seeks exclusion and cease and desist orders at the ITC against Samsung devices containing “wafer-level” packaged semiconductors, including the “power management IC” chips used in the Galaxy 8 and Note8 smartphones.
The International Trade Commission opened a Tariff Act Section 337 investigation into allegations (see 1709050045) imports of Hisense smart TVs infringe Sharp Wi-Fi patents, said a Wednesday notice (login required) in docket 337-TA-1072. Foxconn CEO Terry Gou, whose company bought Sharp, wants to make Sharp, 8K displays and 5G products the linchpins of the plant his company plans in Wisconsin. The ITC will consider whether to issue limited exclusion order and cease-and-desist orders banning import and sale of any patent-infringing Hisense smart TVs.
TiVo extended its intellectual property license with AT&T, it said in a Wednesday announcement. The companies previously announced a seven-year license renewal at the end of 2015, and the extension will allow AT&T to license TiVo’s patent portfolios through 2025.