Cox Communications is liable for copyright infringement on peer-to-peer networks it oversees, publisher and songwriter groups wrote in a brief filed Friday in docket 1:18-cv-950-LO/JFA (in Pacer). The National Music Publishers' Association, Nashville Songwriters Association International and Songwriters Association of North America wrote the brief filed with the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. “Resist Cox’s invitation to dodge responsibility and thereby prompt a race to the bottom in infringement enforcement by the very platforms best positioned to put a halt to online piracy,” they wrote. Cox didn’t comment.
Incompas asked the FCC for more certainty on secure telephone identity revisited (Stir) and signature-based handling of asserted information using tokens (Shaken) rules, urging tweaks to rules on appeals when a provider’s service provider code is revoked. The FCC has a role to play in considering appeals, said a filing posted Thursday in docket 21-291. Incompas “would prefer the Commission set a time limit on its review period.” Commissioners vote this coming Thursday (see 2107150066).
The NextGenTV certification mark for ATSC 3.0-compliant TVs was “first used in commerce by persons authorized” by applicant CTA “at least as early as March 1, 2020, and is now in use in such commerce,” said the association’s statement of use (SOU), dated July 1 and newly posted at the Patent and Trademark Office. “Applicant is exercising legitimate control over the use of the certification mark in connection with the identified goods” but is “not engaged in the production or marketing of the goods to which the mark is applied,” it said. PTO requires the SOU as the last step in the trademark application process before issuing a registration certificate, and does so to prevent applicants from hoarding trademarks. “CTA have set up a Test Repository for ATSC 3.0 Test Material, to facilitate the upload of test materials representing ‘typical’ emissions from current trials, and the subsequent download for use to test and certify consumer devices,” says a redacted Eurofins test specification document accompanying the SOU. Eurofins developed the 3.0 receiver conformance test suite under contract with CTA and showcased it at the April 2019 NAB Show in Las Vegas (see 1903270038). Only test suite licensee and “contributor” users have access to the repository, says the document. Contributor access “is afforded to CTA, NAB and ATSC members and their appointed representatives” for searching, but not for downloading, interoperability and documentation materials, it said. Manufacturers aren't required under the NextGenTV logo license “to retrospectively test previously certified devices” against later releases of the test suite, says the document. It's the manufacturer’s “sole responsibility to establish its own testing specifications and program to ensure interoperability” with compliant NextGenTV services, it says. “Company shall be solely responsible for all testing results.”
Global time spent watching content on Snap grew year over year, “while lapping the boost in engagement we saw at the onset" of COVID-19, CEO Evan Spiegel told a Q2 call Thursday. “We have also observed a year-over-year decrease in daily time spent” watching user-generated content created by friends, “even as the number of daily viewers of that content has grown,” he said. Snap attributes this partly to declining daily posting activity “coinciding with mobility restrictions and behaviors" due to the pandemic, "which reduces the amount of content created by friends,” he said. The stock closed 23.8% higher Friday at $77.97 after Snap significantly exceeded revenue and profit forecasts for the quarter.
Congress can “reinvigorate” U.S. chipmaking by funding initiatives authorized in the Chips for America Act and enacting an investment tax credit to “build and modernize” U.S. fabs, the Semiconductor Industry Association, Information Technology Industry Council and 18 other groups and associations wrote the House and Senate leadership Thursday. The Senate approved $52 billion in funding last month; the House hasn’t acted. “These initiatives will help grow the U.S. economy, create hundreds of thousands of good-paying middle-class jobs in advanced manufacturing and other fields, unleash billions in private-sector investments, assure the supply of critical components essential to virtually all sectors of the economy, and strengthen our national security,” said the organizations. “The need is urgent.”
Univision filed a restated version of a request from April (see 2104290081) seeking an FCC declaratory ruling to allow the company to be more than 25% foreign-owned, so SoftBank and Liberty Global Ventures can own voting interests of more than 5%. The undocketed petition posted Wednesday was filed “pursuant to discussions with Commission staff.” The request is in the public interest because SoftBank and Liberty “are experienced investors with expertise in the media and communications sectors, and they are committed to supporting Univision’s decades long history of providing local broadcasting,” said the petition. “These investments likewise should not pose any national security or law enforcement concerns.”
The $8.3 billion five-year “landmark” deal announced Friday to supply 5G solutions to Verizon is the largest contract in Ericsson’s history, said CEO Borje Ekholm on a Q2 call. “We see the North American market moving very fast with a strong demand for 5G and it will be a key opportunity now as the operators are building out mid-band spectrum that will be lit up at the end of the year.” The big priority is building out coverage, followed by density, “because ultimately that is what's going to give the end consumer the user experience of 5G,” he said. Ericsson is “the largest contributor to the overall alliance” on open radio access network standards, but “we recognize there is a need to build out the 5G networks around the world right now,” he said. “Purpose-built networks actually can deliver the performance that's required in 5G today.” By the time ORAN is ready for broad commercialization, “we will also be there with solutions, but we don't feel it's the right time right now and divert focus from actually what goes on in the market,” he said.
Ireland's privacy watchdog must investigate whether Facebook is wrongfully processing WhatsApp Ireland (IE) users' personal data by combining or comparing it with other data sets processed by other Facebook companies in the context of other apps or services they offer, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) said Thursday. It told the Irish Data Protection Commission not to impose any final measures on Facebook Ireland (IE) now. The board's first "urgent decision" under the general data protection regulation followed a request from the Hamburg, Germany, data protection authority (DPA); it ordered Facebook to stop processing WhatsApp user data for its own purposes after changing the terms of service and privacy policy applicable to European users of WhatsApp (IE). In exceptional circumstances, GDPR lets DPAs impose provisional measures when they believe there's an urgent need to act to safeguard data subjects' rights. The board said those conditions weren't met. Given contradictions, ambiguities and uncertainties in WhatsApp's user-facing information, some written commitments adopted by Facebook IE and WhatsApp IE's written submissions, it's "not in a position to determine with certainty which processing operations are actually being carried out and in which capacity." The Hamburg order "was based on fundamental misunderstandings as to the purpose and effect of the update to our terms of service," emailed a company spokesperson.
Utah v. Google is assigned to Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley and to the alternative dispute resolution multi-option program. The sides are scheduled to meet for a case management conference 1:30 p.m. PDT Oct. 7 in San Francisco for the state’s antitrust case (see 2107080063) against the company, per a U.S. District Court in San Francisco order in cv-05227 Tuesday.
TiVo licensed its viewership data to Horizon Media, said the licensor Tuesday.