The Copyright Alliance and CreativeFuture headed an open letter to elected officials Tuesday urging them to “embrace a strong copyright system” and ensure that U.S. copyright laws “protect creatives from those who would use the internet to undermine creativity.” Both content-side groups have been active in lobbying on copyright legislative issues as the House Judiciary Committee moved forward in its copyright law review. The letter, which CA claims was endorsed by more than 70,000 content-side stakeholders, also urges policymakers to include them as “part of the conversation” on copyright issues. “There is no 'left' or 'right' when it comes to respecting copyright,” the letter said. “The creative community stands united in support of a copyright system that will continue to make the United States the global leader in the creative arts and the global paradigm for free expression.”

The Copyright Royalty Board said Friday it “will not entertain filings related to distribution” of the Digital Audio Recording Technology (DART) Musical Works and Sound Recordings royalty funds “until further notice.” The DART funds are now “depleted,” with royalties qualifying for the DART fund having “declined dramatically” during 2016, CRB said. The funds are so depleted the royalty amounts “deposited are insufficient to cover the costs of managing the DART funds and subfunds and distributing royalties to claimants,” the board said. Ongoing litigation on its interpretation of DART provisions in the Copyright Act “might result in additional royalty deposits in the future,” CRB said. Parties intending to claim DART royalties for 2017 and beyond should continue to file timely claims, with the window for 2017 claims Jan. 1-Feb. 28, 2018, CRB said.

The Copyright Office said it launched a blog aimed at expanding the office's social media presence and sharing office activities. An expanded CO social media presence was part of the office's 2016-2020 strategic plan (see 1510230042). Posts will include updates on registration practices, law and policy developments, information on copyright basics and “copyright lore,” the CO said Thursday. Acting Register of Copyrights Karyn Temple Claggett focused her first blog post on the CO's role. The launch came a week after the CO went live with an updated version of its website.

LG, Vizio and four other companies were charged Tuesday in a series of federal complaints with infringing at least one of four Broadcom patents on video encoding and decoding, graphics processing and DVR functionality. The complaints (in Pacer) filed in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, California, also named Funai, MStar Semiconductor, MediaTek and Sigma Designs as defendants. The complaints against the TV brands and chipmakers all seek injunctions barring U.S. imports of the infringing products, plus damages “in an amount no less than a reasonable royalty for each asserted patent.” Broadcom also filed patent infringement complaints against the six companies at the International Trade Commission. LG spokesman John Taylor declined comment Wednesday. Representatives of the other five companies didn’t respond to emails.

Sony’s PlayStation Vue over-the-top service violates four Arris patents on video playback and content navigation, Arris alleged in a Thursday complaint. For example, Vue features a "My Shows" function that "can be used to capture and store a continuous feed of video into a digital video format," said the complaint (in Pacer) filed in U.S. District Court in Oakland. That's in direct violation of an October 2008 patent on methods for implementing seamless playback of "continuous media feeds" that Arris co-owns by assignment with Alcatel Lucent, the complaint said. Arris “has no adequate remedy at law for Sony’s acts of infringement,” it said. Arris “has suffered and continues to suffer damages and irreparable harm” as a “direct and proximate result of Sony’s acts of infringement,” it said. Arris “will continue to be damaged and irreparably harmed” unless Sony’s violations “are enjoined by this Court,” it says. Sony representatives didn’t comment Friday.

The Copyright Office sought comment Thursday on an NPRM that would amend its rules for handling copyright applications, fee and other material submissions during disruptions or outages of its electronic systems. The NPRM would allow the register of copyrights to assign the date of a submission's receipt as “the date on which she determines the material would have been received but for the disruption or suspension of the electronic system.” The CO ordinarily views the submission date as the date the submission was made. “In cases where it is unclear when the attempt was made, the proposed rule provides the Register with discretion to determine the effective date of receipt on a case-by-case basis,” said a Federal Register notice. The NPRM also updates the rules to account for other recent practices, including allowing an applicant a full year to request an update to a submission date. The item also gives an applicant a full year to request a submission date change when the application was delivered in person or via mail when there's no record of the material's submission. Comments are due April 3.

Indications are growing that Congress may be able to act on patent law revamp legislation this year, said American Enterprise Institute Center for Internet, Communications and Technology Policy Visiting Fellow Michael Rosen in a Wednesday blog post. Rosen noted recent comments by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, (see 1702160055) and House IP Subcommittee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., that indicate they're zeroing in on more targeted legislation that would address issues like a revamp of rules governing the court venue for patent infringement lawsuits. “One way or the other, Hatch and Issa will push reform forward,” Rosen said. “Whether they succeed remains to be seen.” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said in February that he would need to re-evaluate whether to include patent venue language in future patent legislation depending on the outcome of the Supreme Court’s pending review of those rules (see 1702010069). The Supreme Court is set to hear oral argument March 27 in Heartland Food Products Group's requested 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 has an “established place of business.” Tech groups are watching that case.

The Copyright Office is extending to March 30 the comment deadline for its study on how existing U.S. law protects the moral rights of attribution and integrity. The study, initiated in January, will examine whether changes in U.S. law are needed to protect moral rights (see 1701230061). Replies are now due May 15, the CO said in a notice set to run in Thursday's Federal Register. The CO separately said in Wednesday's Federal Register it's withdrawing a portion of its final rule allowing an author, claimant to a copyright or representatives to ask the office to remove “extraneous and unnecessary” personally identifiable information from online versions of their copyright application (see 1702020030). The CO said it was withdrawing it because a separate rule that adopted technical amendments to the office’s regulations for registration, recordation, licensing and other services (see 1702060043) already updated some of the rules changes.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed Monday a 2015 Jacksonville district court ruling that granted cruise line Royal Caribbean a default judgment against Cruise Traffic over the latter's cybersquatting of two domain names -- RoyalCaribean.com and RoyalCarribean.com. Royal Caribbean filed an in rem lawsuit against Cruise Traffic under the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, claiming Cruise Traffic used the two domain names to “wrongfully profit” from the cruise line’s reputation. The Jacksonville court granted a default judgment against Cruise Traffic when Royal Caribbean’s notice to the address for Jai George, the domains’ original listed registrant, went undelivered because the address included on registration documents was no longer correct. Royal Caribbean also attempted to contact Bindu Joseph, George’s sister-in-law, to whom George transferred registration of the domains. Cruise Traffic appealed, claiming the Jacksonville court didn’t have in rem jurisdiction and Royal Caribbean didn’t exercise due diligence in its attempts to contact Joseph. A three-judge 11th Circuit panel ruled per curiam that the Jacksonville court was correct in saying “Royal Caribbean would be prejudiced by the continued use of the Domain Names. This determination was supported by evidence the Domain Names diverted customers attempting to book cruises directly through Royal Caribbean to third-party agents, to whom Royal Caribbean then paid a commission. In other words, Royal Caribbean incurred additional expenses due to the use of the Domain Names.” Judges Lanier Anderson, Stanley Marcus and Beverly Martin heard the case. They panel ruled that the Jacksonville court did have jurisdiction and said it was “unpersuaded” by Cruise Traffic’s claim that Royal Caribbean didn’t exercise proper due diligence. “Royal Caribbean did all that it was required by statute when it sent notice to Joseph via mail and email and published notice,” the 11th Circuit said in its opinion. It said Cruise Traffic couldn't be considered a “registrant or authorized licensee” because that issue was not raised at the Jacksonville court. Royal Caribbean and Cruise Traffic didn’t comment.

The European Parliament Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee deleted a proposed pan-EU ancillary copyright aimed at allowing publishers to claim royalties from news aggregation services like Google News (see 1609140010), in a published draft opinion Thursday on the European Commission's proposed copyright directive for the digital single market. The proposed ancillary right drew flack from the Computer and Communications Industry Association, Center for Democracy and Technology, CTA, Mozilla and other U.S. stakeholders (see 1608290062, 1609060078, 1609120026 and 1609150053). Catherine Stihler, MEP for Scotland, deleted the ancillary or “publisher's right” in the draft opinion, saying it lacked “sufficient justification.” Some EU-based groups also opposed keeping the ancillary right in the copyright directive, saying this month it was “fundamentally misconceived.” The EP committee's draft opinion also amends language on intermediary liability and filtering, adds a user-generated content exception to copyright, and broadens the scope of the copyright exception for text and data mining. CCIA “welcomes” the EP committee's draft opinion as a “good first step in the right direction,” said Europe Public Policy Manager Maud Sacquet in a news release. “CCIA urges the Parliament and Member States to follow this first step, to stand up for the deletion of the publishers’ right in the EU and to go even further by entirely deleting all provisions undermining the e-Commerce Directive.”