Copyright infringement claims by music labels (see 2111220061) fail to state facts enough to constitute a claim on which there can be relief, and the statute of limitations bars the claims because they happened outside the three-year period, Charter Communications told the U.S. District Court in Denver in an answer Tuesday (docket 21-cv-02020). Any infringement "was innocent and was not willful," and Charter didn't cause, encourage or induce the alleged primary infringement, the company said. Outside counsel for the plaintiff music labels didn't comment. The lawsuit is one of two related infringement suits against Charter by labels (see 1903250004).

The comment period for a draft policy statement on licensing negotiations and remedies for standard-essential patents subject to reasonable and non-discriminatory or fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms is extended until Feb. 4, DOJ announced Monday. DOJ extended the comment period 30 days with the Patent and Trademark Office and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The statement “seeks to promote good-faith licensing negotiations and addresses the scope of remedies available to patent owners,” DOJ said.

A U.S. District Court in Austin judge denied a Texas motion to stay, pending appeal, the court’s preliminary injunction on the state’s social media law (see 2112070044). “The State largely rehashes the same arguments this Court rejected in its Order,” Judge Robert Pitman wrote Thursday in case 1:21-cv-00840. Pitman disagreed with Texas that his injunction was too broad. The judge granted a motion by plaintiffs NetChoice and the Computer and Communications Industry Association to stay proceedings during the state’s appeal at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The “harmful” Section 301 tariffs on Chinese semiconductor imports “are exacerbating the ongoing chip shortage and slowing our economy,” and they should be eliminated, blogged the Semiconductor Industry Association, following up on Dec. 1 comments urging the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to reinstate previously extended tariff exclusions. The tariffs, “in their most direct effect,” add 25% to the cost of covered semiconductors, and subsequently contribute to inflationary price increases driven by global shortages and rising demand, said SIA Wednesday. The tariffs “are disproportionately harming the U.S. semiconductor industry and broader U.S. interests, all while failing to put real pressure on the Chinese government to change its unfair trade practices,” it said. USTR didn't comment Thursday.

Roku shares jumped 18.2% Wednesday at $256.08 after the streaming media platform provider and Google avoided a lockout, set for Thursday, of YouTube and YouTube TV on new Roku devices. The companies agreed to a multiyear extension. That's “a positive development for our shared customers, making both YouTube and YouTube TV available for all streamers on the Roku platform,” a Roku spokesperson emailed. Google’s TeamYouTube tweeted: “This means that all Roku users (existing & new) can install the @YouTube and @YouTubeTV apps from the channel store and continue to watch their favorite content.”

The International Trade Commission ordered a Tariff Act Section 337 investigation into allegations in a Nov. 1 complaint that MediaTek chipsets and downstream streaming media and smart home products containing them from Amazon, Belkin and Linksys infringe five NXP Semiconductors patents, said Tuesday’s Federal Register. The complaint seeks a limited exclusion order and cease and desist orders against the allegedly infringing products. None of the named respondents commented.

YouTube's community guidelines and strikes process for violations will be codified as part of its terms of service effective Jan. 5, increasing transparency, it told users. It said while TOS is still a legal document, "we've done our best to make them easier to understand" through reorganization and rewording.

Amazon doesn’t actually own the digital content it sells the public, but sublicenses from the content owner, and when a licensing agreement terminates, Amazon pulls the content from a consumer’s purchased folder and music library “without prior warning, and without providing any type of refund or remuneration,” alleged a class-action complaint filed Friday in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York. Amazon’s sale of digital content it doesn't own “is made more egregious” because Amazon “charges just as much for that content,” sometimes even more, than stores like Best Buy and Target that “actually transfer title” to its customers, access to which “can never be revoked,” said the complaint. Amazon continues to “mislead consumers into believing it's selling them digital content, “even though it is merely providing them with a license to view it, which can be terminated at any time, for any reason and without any type of warning so that a consumer can take steps to attempt to preserve it,” said the suit. Amazon has sold more digital content, “and at substantially higher prices per unit, than it would have in the absence of this misconduct, resulting in additional profits at the expense of deceived consumers,” it said. The complaint seeks “punitive or exemplary” money damages, alleging unjust enrichment and violation of consumer protection laws. Amazon didn’t comment.

Broadcasters want the FCC to distinguish between “next-generation EAS” (emergency alert system) and enhanced alerting through ATSC 3.0, said replies posted Friday in docket 15-94. “Conflating the two platforms threatens to encourage the migration of the rules and requirements that govern EAS (which have accrued from the 1950’s to this proceeding) to ATSC 3.0 emergency messaging,” said the Advanced Warning and Response Network Alliance and ATSC. The 3.0 “optional, value-added urgent news information service” is called “Advanced Emergency Information” and is a valuable supplement for EAS alerts but isn’t the same thing, NAB said. “Refrain from regulating such an optional ATSC 3.0 content service because it is unrelated to the vital service provided by the EAS system and doing so could hinder innovation.” AWARN and ATSC urged the FCC not to impose alerting regulations on streaming media. NAB reiterated (see 2110200065) that an FCC proposal for persistent EAS alerts isn’t feasible.

Cisco revenue growth in its fiscal Q1 ended Oct. 30 of 8% year over year to $12.9 billion was “solid” but was hindered by supply constraints, CEO Chuck Robbins told analysts. “Our product orders were extremely strong and balanced across our markets, but we are constrained in what we can build and ship.” The company takes “multiple steps to mitigate the supply shortages and deliver products,” including paying “significantly higher logistics costs,” said Robbins Wednesday. It “thoughtfully raised prices” to offset the impact of higher costs from suppliers that are crimping its gross margins. “Most customers are very understanding. They are super-frustrated with the lead times.” Many Cisco customers “are doing the same thing to their customers, so this is a whole inflationary trend that we see across the entire economy,” said the CEO. When its order backlog might clear is “the $64,000 question,” said Chief Financial Officer Scott Herren. “It's not just one commodity that's constrained,” he said. “Then you have to overlay on that the snarled logistics position that we find ourselves in, really across all lanes, whether it’s ocean or air or trucking.” The company expects revenue growth of 4.5% to 6.5% for this quarter, said the CFO: “The Q2 guide is impacted by the supply chain -- the component supply issues that are putting a headwind on what we can get pushed out the door.” Thursday, the stock closed down 5.5% at $53.63.