A Laguna Hills, California, man was sentenced Friday to 24 months in federal prison for conspiring to smuggle counterfeit Apple, Samsung and Motorola smartphone parts from China for sale to U.S. consumers, generating tens of millions of dollars in revenue for him and his co-conspirators, said DOJ. U.S. District Judge Josephine Staton in Santa Ana also ordered Chan Hung Le, 46, to pay $250,000 in fines. Le pleaded guilty in November to conspiracy to defraud the U.S., to intentionally trafficking in counterfeit goods and to illegally bringing merchandise into the U.S. Efforts to reach his lawyers for comment Monday were unsuccessful.

Verizon settled two patent lawsuits filed by China’s Huawei. Last year, Huawei sued in Texas, alleging the carrier used its patents without authorization. Huawei noted it holds more than 100,000 active patents, including some 10,000 in the U.S. Verizon's Monday statement is here.

The 120-day initial national security review for iHeartMedia’s request for declaratory ruling on its level of foreign ownership began Thursday, said the Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the U.S. Telecom Services Sector, in a letter to the FCC posted in docket 21-141 Friday. The FCC “will be notified promptly in the event of an extension of the 120-day initial review period or the need arises to conduct a 90-day secondary assessment,” the letter said. IHeart has been battling with investor Global Media & Entertainment Investments over how much the company’s allowed percentage of foreign ownership should be increased (see 2106090077).

The Mechanical Licensing Collective should maximize outreach and transparency to reduce incidence of unclaimed royalties, the Copyright Office recommended Thursday. CO's report responds to the Music Modernization Act (see 2102110040). It recommended publicity about the MMA, the MLC, the blanket license and the public musical works database. It said the database should be “simple, accessible and well-organized.” The data should be “complete, accurate, up-to-date and de-conflicted as possible,” the office said: The MLC “should adopt transparent, practical, and equitable policies, practices, and procedures, especially with respect to holding and distributing unclaimed royalties.”

TiVo renewed its patent license with Google, said parent Xperi Wednesday. The long-term renewal gives Google, a licensee since 2012, continued broad coverage under TiVo’s patent portfolios for technology that helps YouTube and Google TV viewers find and watch video content, Xperi said.

New application fee rates for the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology and Media Bureau take effect July 15, said Tuesday's Federal Register. The rates were adopted 3-2 at the agency's December meeting (see 2012300044).

The Copyright Office’s on-site services will reopen to the public by appointment starting July 8, the CO announced Thursday.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology wants comment by Aug. 5 on its effort to identify and manage AI bias. NIST plans several virtual events on its proposal. The agency seeks to develop "voluntary, consensus-based standards" for managing AI bias and reducing the risk of "harmful outcomes that it can cause,” it said.

Regulating how powerful social media companies control user content is “little different from traditional common carrier regulation long thought to be constitutionally permissible,” said Florida Monday at U.S. District Court in Tallahassee. The state opposed internet industry groups’ motion for preliminary injunction, arguing that Communications Decency Act Section 230 doesn’t preempt Florida from regulating networks that censor free speech: Plaintiffs may say sites are businesses not subject to the First Amendment, but if “Section 230 creates a broad law-free zone in which internet companies can censor however they like, even in bad faith, then serious questions would arise about whether their censorship constitutes state action.” Even if the court disagrees social networks are state actors, “there is nevertheless state action to whatever extent Section 230 preempts Florida law,” argued Florida, citing a 1956 Supreme Court case, Railway Employees’ Department v. Hanson. The Supreme Court, in 2006’s Rumsfeld v. FAIR and 1980’s PruneYard Shopping Center v. Robins, said the First Amendment gives government wide latitude to regulate, Florida said. A footnote responded to plaintiffs’ incredulity about the law exempting companies that own Florida theme parks, which could include Disney and Comcast. It “only applies to a handful of entities, none of which operates a social media platform of significant size,” Florida said. “The narrow exception survives intermediate scrutiny, and in any event should be severed from the rest of the Act if the Court deems it unconstitutional.” Virtual oral argument is June 28 at 1:30 p.m. Judge Robert Hinkle said he plans to rule on preliminary injunction by end-of-day June 30 (see 2106100059). The court received amicus briefs opposing the state law last week, including from the Internet Association, Electronic Frontier Foundation, American Civil Liberties Union and TechFreedom. It might seem “counterintuitive,” but “the answer to Florida lawmakers’ concerns ... is to preserve the constitutional status quo,” wrote EFF. The law vests Florida “with the pure power of the censor,” said ACLU and press and writer groups. Common carriage rules may not be applied to social media, said TechFreedom.

Patent Trial and Appeal Board judges are unconstitutionally appointed, and granting the Patent and Trademark Office director more discretion to review PTAB decisions would cure the problem, the Supreme Court ruled Monday in U.S. v. Arthrex (19-1434). The Constitution “forbids the enforcement of statutory restrictions on the Director that insulate the decisions of [administrative patent judges] APJs from his direction and supervision,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority. “To be clear, the Director need not review every decision of the PTAB. What matters is that the Director have the discretion to review decisions rendered by APJs.” Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett joined Roberts in the majority opinion on parts I and II. Alito, Kavanaugh and Barrett joined Roberts for an opinion on part III. Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Clarence Thomas and Gorsuch dissented to varying degrees. Gorsuch filed an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part. Breyer filed an opinion concurring in the judgment in part and dissenting in part, with Sotomayor and Kagan joining. Thomas filed a dissenting opinion with Breyer, Sotomayor and Kagan joining for parts I and II. The high court ruled the appointments unconstitutional on the question of whether the authority of APJs to “issue decisions on behalf of the Executive Branch is consistent with the Appointments Clause of the Constitution.” Arthrex argued “APJs were principal officers who must be appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate, and that their appointment by the Secretary of Commerce was therefore unconstitutional,” according to the filing. Computer & Communications Industry Association Patent Counsel Josh Landau disagreed that “PTAB judges were not already subject to sufficient supervision by the Director” but welcomed the court’s “simple, common-sense revision that provides for Director review.” DOJ and an attorney for the company didn’t comment.