Songwriters of North America is opposing DOJ's motion to dismiss SONA's lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., over the Antitrust Division's controversial decision in its review of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers and Broadcast Music Inc. consent decrees (see 1608040066). SONA sued DOJ in September, filing its claim shortly before U.S. District Judge Louis Stanton ruled in BMI's New York rate case against a portion of Justice's decision on 100 percent licensing (see 1609140027 and 1609190062). SONA argued (in Pacer) earlier this week that it has standing to sue over Antitrust's findings “because [songwriters] are now suffering and will imminently suffer injuries traceable” to the decision. SONA repeated its long-standing assertion that its lawsuit is wholly separate from BMI's ongoing legal challenge to the DOJ decision, which the department appealed to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. “Numerous issues are raised by plaintiffs’ claims that have nothing to do with the rate courts’ superintendence of the consent decrees,” SONA said. “Plaintiffs’ constitutional claim is based on theories that the 100% Mandate violates plaintiffs’ rights of procedural and substantive due process, and takes their property without compensation.” SONA also defended its claims that DOJ's finding violates both the Fifth Amendment's due process clause and the Administrative Procedure Act. District Judge Tanya Chutkan on Thursday extended to March 9 DOJ's deadline to respond to SONA's opposition to the dismissal motion.

MPAA and the Software and Information Industry Association lauded reintroduction Tuesday of the Copyright Office for the Digital Economy Act (HR-890). The bill would separate the CO from the Library of Congress but keep it within the legislative branch (see 1702070045). CO “modernization enjoys bipartisan, bicameral support, as evidenced by” a CO-centric proposal from House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., and committee ranking member John Conyers, D-Mich. (see 1701310047), said MPAA CEO Chris Dodd in a statement. The Goodlatte/Conyers proposal suggested giving the office more autonomy from the LOC (see 1612080061 and 1612220048). Dodd also cited “statements from” Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and former committee ranking member Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. HR-890 “represents the bipartisan consensus that the way that the Copyright Office has operated in the past is no longer viable,” said SIIA Senior Vice President-Public Policy Mark MacCarthy in a statement.

The Copyright Office adopted an interim rule amending its Freedom of Information Act regulations to comply with the 2016 FOIA Improvement Act. The interim rule, to take effect March 9, provides a “clear structure for the required regulatory provisions of FOIA,” the CO said Tuesday in a Federal Register notice. The interim rule also formalizes CO practices for multitrack processing and aggregation and enhances customer service for FOIA requests, the CO said. Comments are due April 24.

India again ranked near the bottom among 45 “global economies” included in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Global Intellectual Property Center’s annual IP index report. GIPC ranks the 45 countries based on patents, trademarks, copyright, trade secrets, enforcement and international treaties. GIPC ranked India at 43, ahead of Pakistan and last-place Venezuela. India ranked in either last place or next-to-last in GIPC’s previous four index reports. The U.S., UK, EU-member nations and Japan continued to rank at the top of the index, with those nations holding all but two of the top 10 spots. The U.S. ranked No. 1, and Singapore and South Korea ranked at No. 8 and 9, respectively. “Emerging markets, such as India, have made incremental gains and embraced positive rhetoric with their IPR [intellectual property rights] policies, but they have not yet followed up with the legislative reforms innovators need,” said GIPC Executive Vice President Mark Elliot in a news release. “Some developed countries, including Canada and Australia, continue to implement policies that undermine their proud traditions of IP-led innovation. And even world leaders such as the U.S. have room to grow and improve.”

The Copyright Office published a final rule Monday that made technical amendments to the office’s regulations for registration, recordation, licensing and other services. The amendments mainly codify recent changes to operations, including the CO’s reorganization, which included the establishment of a chief information officer and a copyright technology office, said in a notice in the Federal Register. There was no stakeholder opposition to the technical amendments, the CO said. The office proposed the amendments in October to reflect the CO’s 2014 copyright practices compendium and include updated citations to U.S. copyright law (see 1610030021).

The Copyright Office issued a final rule Thursday allowing an author, claimant to a copyright or representative to ask the office to remove “extraneous and unnecessary” personally identifiable information from online versions of their copyright's application. PII that's eligible for removal includes driver's license numbers, Social Security numbers, banking information and credit card information, the CO said in a notice in the Federal Register. The CO agreed to a recommendation from the National Center for Transgender Equality that the office modify the rule as proposed in a September NPRM (see 1609150010) to also allow authors and claimants to replace their names in the online record amid concerns that including a transgender person's birth name in the online record could jeopardize that person's well-being. The CO declined to adopt recommendations by the National Writers Union and others seeking to eliminate the requirement that an alternative physical address be used in place of a primary address in public online registration records. Copyright Act Section 409 clearly requires that “the claimant must provide a physical mailing address -- not an electronic mailing address,” the CO said: The office has always advised applicants to “think carefully before providing a claimant’s personal physical address, and are instead encouraged to provide a third-party agent’s address, a post office box, or a non-personal email address.” It declined requests to modify a proposed $130 fee for requests to remove extraneous PII or the $60 fee for requests for reconsideration of previously denied PII removal requests.

Samsung is seeking trademark protection for the “8-Point Battery Safety Check" nomenclature it used last week to describe the safety protocol it put in place to prevent a repeat of the Galaxy Note7 fiasco (see 1701230048). Patent and Trademark Office records show Samsung applied to register the term Jan. 23, the same day it called a Seoul news conference to announce the checklist protocol it said would address device safety "from the component level to the assembly and shipment of devices." The company “has a bona fide intention, and is entitled, to use the mark in commerce on or in connection with the identified goods/services,” said the application. It lists mobile phones as a category of product that could carry the trademark, but also a range of other consumer goods, including TVs, tablets and wireless headsets.

The Copyright Office extended to Feb. 21 the deadline for submitting comments on its second round of questions on the office's study of Digital Millennium Copyright Act Section 512's notice-and-takedown process and the section's safe harbors. Stakeholders can submit empirical studies related to Section 512 through March 22, the CO said in Friday's Federal Register. The second round of questions is on balance in the internet ecosystem and how lawmakers should factor diverging views of the efficacy of Section 512's safe harbors. The CO also sought comment on recommendations for modifying Section 512 to reflect changes to copyright case law (see 1611080021).

Less Government President Seton Motley urged President Donald Trump to remove Michelle Lee as Patent and Trademark Office director. House IP Subcommittee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and the Computer & Communications Industry Association separately praised Trump's apparent decision to keep Lee at PTO, based on news reports (see 1701190046). The White House and PTO haven't confirmed that Lee will keep her position, leading Motley to suggest in a RedState blog post that Trump “should not” keep her on. Lee “is antithetical to the position of USPTO Director -- and Trump’s desire for IP protection enforcement,” Motley said. He said, given Trump's IP rights protection goals, Lee's past experience as Google's head of patents and patent strategy, when coupled with perceptions that former President Barack Obama's administration was pro-Google, make her a bad fit to lead PTO. “Trump should instead appoint someone who shares his respect for IP and patents” to lead the office, Motley said. PTO didn't comment.

CBS Studios and Paramount Pictures settled their copyright infringement lawsuit against the makers of a Star Trek fan film (see 1609300002), said a joint stipulation (in Pacer) of voluntary dismissal filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. Terms weren't disclosed.