U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer shouldn’t include certain copyright infringement liability protections for online platforms in trade deals, the Free State Foundation blogged Thursday. FSF cited the “ineffective” Section 512 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act covering a notice and takedown process for when online service providers receive limited liability protection for hosting infringing content and activity. “Congress needs to reexamine Section 512 as a matter of modernizing U.S. domestic law to reduce illegal copyright infringement,” before including it in trade deals, wrote FSF. It cited a similar request for Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act from the House Commerce Committee (see 1908060064).

DOJ should maintain the ASCAP and BMI music licensing consent decrees, a coalition of free market groups wrote Attorney General William Barr on Wednesday (see 1906060017). Frontiers of Freedom, Americans for Limited Government, Center for Freedom and Prosperity, and The Latino Coalition were among groups signing the letter. They urged DOJ not to potentially disrupt millions of businesses by replacing one form of government regulation with another, as termination of the consent decrees would require some form of regulation over the market. DOJ didn't comment.

New TiVo CEO Dave Shull is “always willing to enter into a productive business dialogue” to license TiVo’s intellectual property to Comcast, “but in the meanwhile we are committed to the litigation and Comcast continues to incur liability for their violations of our IP," he said on a Q2 earnings call Wednesday. “Litigation is a core part of any IP business,” said Shull, hired May 31 as TiVo CEO after careers at the Weather Channel and Dish Network. “While I would always prefer to get to a fair business deal without litigation, if the other party is not reasonable then we have no choice but to litigate.” TiVo declared “legal victory” June 4 after winning a “favorable determination” from an International Trade Commission administrative judge that Comcast’s X1 platform infringes TiVo-owned Rovi patents. “We have a portfolio of more than 5,000 patents and applications, hundreds of which cover technology innovations” for the X1 “user experience,” said Shull. “While Comcast may be able to design around any single patent if we are able to demonstrate that they have violated even a small percentage of these hundreds of patents, the Comcast service will likely continue to lose features that are important to their customers.” Since the ITC process allows TiVo to bring infringement actions on only “a few of these patents at a time, we committed to this lengthy process at the outset,” he said. Comcast didn’t comment Thursday.

Sustaining the rise of e-commerce wouldn't be “possible without user trust in online services,” commented the Computer & Communications Industry Association Monday in the Trump administration’s inquiry into the trafficking of counterfeit goods. President Donald Trump’s April 3 memorandum said the Commerce Department would collaborate with other federal agencies on a report due Oct. 30 with recommendations how to curb the illicit trafficking. Internet companies “across the spectrum devote significant resources to maintaining trust in online purchases,” said CCIA. “Combating counterfeit and pirated goods online is central to these efforts.” The administration’s study “could help ensure that online sales are trusted environments, and that digital e-commerce can continue to grow and benefit sellers of all sizes,” it said. “CCIA encourages the relevant agencies to take into account all of the existing work and vigorous attention to this issue,” while steering clear of “mandated requirements” that would have “significant consequences for smaller competitors,” it said. It also sought “better facilitation of information sharing between enforcement agencies,” including Customs and Border Protection, to fight counterfeits.

Flex is terminating its "Huawei-dedicated" contract-manufacturing operations in China after the Trump administration's trade blacklist crimped demand for the telecom-equipment maker's products, said CEO Revathi Advaithi on a fiscal Q1 call. That, plus the decision phasing out unprofitable consumer tech businesses worldwide, will cost up to $1.6 billion annually in lost revenue and boost margins, said Advaithi, who was hired as CEO in February. Flex closed up 13 percent Friday to $11.26. The “well-publicized action by the U.S. government” caused Huawei “significant geopolitical uncertainty” that was “beyond our control,” reducing demand “for products we assemble for them in China,” said Advaithi Thursday. “Flex and Huawei have had a longstanding and successful partnership. We have worked with them to find an agreeable solution. This change is unfortunate.” China will remain a “very important center of production” for Flex, where it has “a significant presence, including tens of thousands of employees,” she said.

The National Retail Federation supported the Trump administration’s efforts to “modernize” the North American Free Trade Agreement “to reflect today’s business environment and support long-term U.S. economic growth,” and so it urges Congress to ratify the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement on free trade, wrote Senior Vice President-Government Relations David French to House and Senate leaders Wednesday. Retailers are “encouraged by some of the new and updated provisions in USMCA relating to digital trade, cross-border data flows, and customs and trade facilitation,” said French. The internet has “changed the way everyone does business, along with ways that consumers purchase goods and interact with retailers,” he said. “As value chains have deepened, cross-border data flows have grown,” he said. “These modernized provisions will help ensure that the new agreement reflects today’s global economy.”

Vodafone will license its LTE “standard essential” intellectual property through the Via Licensing one-stop patent pool, said the pool’s administrator Monday. Vodafone is the 21st licensor to join the LTE pool, it said.

Qualcomm will appeal the $271 million European Commission fine for predatory pricing of its 3G baseband chipsets, it said Thursday. The antitrust investigation found the manufacturer held a dominant position in the global market for the chipsets 2009-11, and it abused its position by selling quantities of three of the chipsets below cost to Huawei and ZTE in an effort to eliminate rival Icera. Icera was becoming a viable supplier of the chipsets, posing a threat to Qualcomm's business. The EC based its decision on a price-cost test for the three Qualcomm chipsets, plus qualitative evidence showing the anticompetitive rationale. The fine considers the duration and seriousness and is 1.27 percent of Qualcomm's 2018 revenue. "This is the second antitrust fine that we've imposed on Qualcomm," said Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager. In 2018, the company got a $1.2 million fine because it granted exclusivity payments, she said: In both cases, Qualcomm's objective was to protect its dominant position in baseband chipsets to shut out rivals. Qualcomm slammed the "meritless nature" of the decision, saying the EC spent years "investigating sales to two customers, each of whom said that they favored Qualcomm chipsets not because of price but because rival chipsets were technologically inferior." The decision is based on a "novel theory of alleged below-cost pricing over a very short time period and for a very small volume of chips," it said. "There is no precedent for this theory, which is inconsistent with well developed economic analysis of cost recovery, as well as Commission practice."

A spike in fraudulent trademark applications, mostly from China, is blocking new innovation and harming small businesses, said House Intellectual Property Subcommittee Chairman Hank Johnson, D-Ga., at a hearing Thursday. He’s crafting legislation to combat frivolous trademark applications (see 1905090055). Congress needs to know what additional authority the Patent and Trademark Office might need to address that issue, plus data about the prevalence of counterfeit goods online, said ranking member Martha Roby, R-Ala. Commissioner for Trademarks Mary Boney Denison highlighted PTO efforts to thwart bad trademark applications, including requiring foreign applicants hire a U.S. lawyer to hold them accountable and auditing post-registration maintenance filings for irregularities. The agency is updating its examination guidance and training for employees and creating a task force to develop additional remedies, she said. A new electronic database will also help, as will updated requirements for specimens, voluntary updates to trademarks and providing education to applicants on use and commerce, said the official. House Judiciary ranking member Doug Collins, R-Ga., targeted e-commerce platforms, which some say aren’t doing enough to combat counterfeit goods online. Roby said phony items have an economic impact and carry human health and safety risks. E-commerce platforms “have the choice to aggressively protect consumers from counterfeits and show respect for others’ property rights, but brand owners argue some are making a merely cosmetic effort,” Collins said. He urged effective policies and practices that detect and block counterfeit sales automatically, swift response to consumer complaints and quick removal and banning of fraudulent sellers.

Comments are due Aug. 15 on proposed partial distribution of 2016 and 2017 satellite royalty funds, the Copyright Royalty Board said in a Federal Register notice Tuesday.