ZTE overtook Huawei as the biggest filer of international patent applications through the World Intellectual Property Organization in 2016, while Qualcomm came in third, WIPO said in its annual report Wednesday. Patent applicants based in the U.S. maintained their No. 1 ranking for the 39th year running, with nearly a quarter of the 233,000 applications filed globally -- a 7.3 percent increase from 2015 -- under WIPO’s Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). Japan placed second with a 19.4 percent share, followed by China with 18.5 percent, WIPO said. Applications originating in China jumped 44.7 percent from a year earlier, WIPO said. If that trend continues, China will overtake the U.S. within two years as the largest user of the PCT system, it said. There also was strong 2016 growth in applications originating from Italy (up 9.3 percent from 2015), Israel (up 9.1 percent), India (up 8.3 percent) and the Netherlands (up 8 percent), WIPO said. But applications from Canada fell 17.3 percent for the second straight year of double-digit declines in filings, WIPO said. It cited declining applications from BlackBerry and Nortel.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals paused Wednesday its review of musicians Flo & Eddie's California lawsuit against Pandora over unpaid performance royalties for pre-1972 recordings, saying it wants the California Supreme Court to decide whether state law recognizes that performance right. Pandora appealed a February 2015 ruling in Flo & Eddie's lawsuit by the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles that said a 1982 California law recognizes a pre-1972 performance right (see 1509100067). Flo & Eddie, who own The Turtles' “Happy Together” and the rest of the band's music catalog, sought compensation from both Pandora and Sirius XM on the pre-1972 performance right issue. The 9th Circuit's punting of the pre-1972 performance right question to a state court follows similar reviews by the Florida Supreme Court and the New York Court of Appeals of their states' laws at the respective requests of the 11th and 2nd circuits in those courts' reviews of Flo & Eddie's lawsuits against Sirius (see 1612200066, 1702140067 and 1702160076). “We agree with our sister circuits that certification is the best way to proceed on these issues, especially in California,” the 9th Circuit said in its order. “As an incubator of both musical talent and technological innovation, California has a significant interest in the appropriate resolution of the certified questions. Resolution of these questions will likely affect the state and industries within the state in a variety of ways, and is therefore best left to the California Supreme Court.”

Broadcom's Tariff Act Section 337 complaint with the International Trade Commission, seeking an investigation into allegations that imports of semiconductor devices for consumer audiovisual products are infringing its patents (see 1703080001), has comments due March 21, the ITC said in Monday's Federal Register. Broadcom said March 7 that Funai, LG, MediaTek and Vizio were among companies making or using infringing SoCs and similar processing components and circuits for DTVs. Funai, LG, MediaTek and Vizio had no immediate comment Tuesday.

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.