Tidal launched direct-to-artist payments, said the streaming music service Wednesday. Each month, beginning in 2022, a percentage of Tidal’s highest tier’s subscribers' membership fees will be directed toward the top streamed artist. Royalties will be paid based on the actual streaming activity of individual HiFi Plus subscribers as opposed to the industry-accepted method of aggregating streams. Tidal also announced it entered the free streaming music space with a U.S. advertising-supported tier.

The FTC will vote at a Nov. 18 open meeting on whether to issue orders to large retailers and consumer goods suppliers to study the competition impact of supply chain disruptions, the agency announced Wednesday. The FTC Act Section 6(b) study would “focus on why these disruptions occur, whether they are leading to specific bottlenecks, shortages, anticompetitive practices, or contributing to rising consumer prices.” The White House launched a supply chain task force in June, and President Joe Biden in October addressed efforts from major retailers like Walmart, FedEx, UPS, Target and Samsung. FTC speaker registration and comment submissions are due Monday. Also on the agenda is a staff report on “the status of criminal referrals by the Bureaus of Competition and Consumer Protection that have resulted in criminal enforcement action by federal and state legal authorities.” Commissioners will vote on whether to issue a statement regarding FTC commitments in this area. The meeting is at 1 p.m. EST.

Most artists are self-employed, earning modest livings and lack a systematic means of identifying copyright infringements, so a strict three-year limit on recoverable damages regardless of when a claim accrues would be a hardship, artists' rights organizations told the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Wednesday. In an amicus brief backing plaintiff-appellee Starz (docket 21-55379), organizations including the Authors Guild, Romance Writers of America and Songwriters Guild of America said defendant-appellant MGM -- in asking the court for that limit -- is "sharply limiting the ability of blameless artists to recover damages" and discouraging private enforcement of infringements. MGM is appealing a lower court's denial of a motion to dismiss 378 of Starz's 1,020 copyright claims on MGM licensing content to Starz and subsequently to other content service providers while Starz allegedly had exclusive license. Santa Clara University law professor Tyler Ochoa in an amicus brief said MGM's read of Supreme Court precedent is wrong and there should be a presumption that acts happening more than three years before filing are barred, but that copyright owners can recover damages if shown they didn't and couldn't discover the infringement earlier. MGM's outside counsel didn't comment Thursday.

Movie production companies suing WideOpenWest for alleged piracy committed by WOW broadband subscribers are "part of a well-known web of copyright trolls" and haven't alleged facts showing WOW knew of, encouraged or profited from any copyright infringement, it told U.S. District in Denver on Friday in a motion to dismiss in docket 21-cv-01901. Counsel for plaintiffs didn't comment Monday.

Apple is “very, very focused" on discussing the privacy and security elements of the App Store with regulators and legislators, said CEO Tim Cook, responding to a question Thursday from Morgan Stanley's Katy Huberty on how Apple will balance consumer preference for App Store transactions with legislators’ push for more choice. The analyst cited a Morgan Stanley survey of 4,000 consumers showing most customers don’t want to pay for apps directly to developers because they value the security and privacy of transactions within the App Store. Apple is working “to explain the decisions that we've made that are key to keeping the privacy and security there, which is to not have sideloading" or to open the iPhone to unreviewed apps, which would sidestep privacy restrictions Apple put on the App Store, Cook said. Morgan Stanley didn't provide a copy of its survey Friday. Meanwhile, for the holiday season, Apple faces chip shortages and high demand across product lines, Cook told a quarterly call for the three months ended Sept. 25. See Q4 materials here.

MVPDs carrying more Jewish-themed programming can "foster community & help combat the scourge of antisemitism against Jewish people," Rep. Kathleen Rice, D-N.Y., tweeted Thursday. She noted a series of letters sent this week to Comcast, Charter, Cox Communications, Altice, Dish Network, AT&T and Verizon asking about plans to increase Jewish-themed programming and seeking responses by Nov. 9. Co-signers of the letters were fellow Democratic Reps. Grace Meng of New York, Ted Deutch of Florida and California's Ted Lieu and Brad Sherman.

Music label plaintiffs are wrong when they argue the Supreme Court's Grokster decision standards don't apply in their litigation against Charter Communications (see 2108120002), Charter told U.S. District Court in Boulder Monday in its reply supporting its motion to dismiss the lawsuit (in Pacer, docket 21-cv-02020). Grokster said selling a service capable of unlawful use isn't contributory infringement unless there's evidence the defendant also promoted its use to infringe copyright. Charter said district courts in the 10th U.S. Circuit of Appeals jurisdiction routinely apply Grokster to contributory infringement claims, requiring allegations or proof of the defendant’s intent to cause infringement. Outside counsel for plaintiffs didn't comment Tuesday.

The U.S. won't impose Section 301 tariffs on goods from Austria, France, Italy, Spain and the U.K. over digital services taxes, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced. Those markets settled with the Treasury Department about the transition from DSTs to a new approach for taxing multinational firms, USTR said. Tariffs on goods from India and Turkey, which weren't party to the settlement, remain suspended through early December, USTR said. Ending the tariffs on the five countries drew tech industry hopes for a rollback everywhere. “While today’s transitional agreement is a meaningful step, it is imperative that all governments urgently and fully withdraw their digital services tax measures,” said Information Technology Industry Council CEO Jason Oxman Thursday. The Computer & Communications Industry Association said it backs a "broader multilateral global tax agreement."

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit approved moving Broadband iTV's patent litigation against Dish Network from a federal court in Texas to the U.S. District Court in Colorado. In a docket 21-182 order Thursday, Judges Kathleen O'Malley, Jimmie Reyna and Raymond Chen said the Federal Circuit rejected a previous Dish petition for writ of mandamus in August, denying the case's transfer because the appellate court was confident the lower court would reconsider its previous denial of such a transfer. The Federal Circuit said the lower court was wrong in subsequently denying the transfer again because Colorado "is the home of evidence, witnesses, and the conduct giving rise to the action." Dish didn't comment.

There’s no “magic elixir” to fix the global chip shortage, which is an “urgent” crisis and a “huge problem” for American consumers and businesses, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told a Washington Post virtual event Wednesday. Microchips “underpin everything we do in a day,” she said. The U.S. makes “zero percent of the most sophisticated chips on our shores,” and 70% of the “leading-edge” chips that Americans consume come from Taiwan, she said. “I find that to be an almost terrifying prospect,” amid the looming threat the island faces from China, she said. “We are exceedingly vulnerable, and getting even more so as our economy becomes more digital.”