U.S. District Judge Michael Shipp in Trenton, New Jersey, again shot down RCN counterclaims against music label plaintiffs and Rightscorp in the labels' copyright infringement suit against the cable ISP, per a docket 3:19-cv-17272 opinion Friday. RCN argued Rightscorp's infringement notification system violates California unfair competition law and said the labels are complicit. Shipp said the harms RCN alleges it suffered, such as additional work hours, weren't sufficient to give it statutory standing under the California law. He also dismissed without prejudice similar counterclaims in 2021 for lack of standing.

THX said Thursday it’s licensing 3D audio and personalization technologies from VisiSonics for use in THX Spatial Audio tools for game developers and music creators. The technology is expected to be part of upcoming THX hearables offerings, it said. THX Spatial Audio will bring an “immersive edge” to creators to deliver personalized experiences to audiences, said CEO Jason Fiber. The agreement includes personal head-related transfer function tools for headset designers, plus tools for developing immersive audiogram products in the hearables field, they said.

Comments are due May 9 in docket 337-3616 at the International Trade Commission on the public interest ramifications of the cease and desist and limited exclusion orders that Broadband iTV (BBiTV) seeks in an April 22 complaint on set-top boxes from Comcast, Charter and Altice for allegedly infringing four patents on VOD and electronic program guide technologies, says a notice for Friday’s Federal Register. “The accused products relate to consumer entertainment and do not implicate public health, safety, or welfare concerns,” said the complaint. Consumers would “continue to have access to like or directly competitive products and services,” including those from BBiTV licensee Dish Network, so an import ban “will not harm the public interest,” it said. Comcast, Charter and Altice didn’t comment.

The Copyright Office is requesting information on developing standard technical measures (STM) for the “protection of copyrighted works, as defined in section 512 of Title 17,” the CO announced Wednesday. Senate Intellectual Property Subcommittee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and ranking member Thom Tillis, R-N.C., asked the CO to explore the issue. They introduced legislation in March that would authorize the Library of Congress to designate mandatory technical measures for online platforms to combat piracy (see 2203180069). The CO held stakeholder discussions in 2020 on the legality of STMs. Comments are due May 27. The office is conducting a separate but related examination of voluntary technical measures.

Cox Communications is appealing a U.S. District Court in Alexandria order last month denying two Cox motions for relief from judgment on the 2019 $1 billion damages award given to music labels charging it with contributory and vicarious copyright infringement, the ISP said Friday in a docket 1:18-cv-00950 notice of appeal to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In the order, District Judge Liam O'Grady found "without merit" Cox's arguments that evidence in similar litigation involving Charter Communications showed the evidence against Cox to be unreliable and inadmissible. Seeing the Charter litigation, Cox "may well be rethinking and reevaluating their previous trial strategies, [but it] received a full and fair trial here," O'Grady wrote, calling the Charter evidence immaterial to Cox's case.

Movie studio plaintiffs landed a permanent injunction giving them control of the PrimeWire video piracy sites, per an order Wednesday (docket 2:21-cv-09317) by U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi in Los Angeles, as he granted them default judgment. He said the defendants haven't defended the copyright violation litigation, despite making changes to PrimeWire in response to court orders (see 2203230040).

If the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit doesn’t rehear an antitrust case involving standard essential patents (SEPs), it will harm consumers and access to Wi-Fi and 5G products, tech groups argued Wednesday in 20-11032. Continental Automotive Systems sued Avanci in 2020, arguing the latter’s refusal to sell an SEP license on fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory (FRAND) terms is a violation of antitrust law. The Computer and Communications Industry Association, the App Association, High Tech Alliance and the Public Interest Patent Law Institute signed a joint amici brief asking the court to allow the lawsuit to proceed. The 5th Circuit is reviewing a February panel decision dismissing the claim. Avanci broke its promises under FRAND terms so “that it could make more money by licensing more profitable companies,” said CCIA Patent Counsel Joshua Landau. “If the panel decision stands, SEP patent holders will see a green light to withhold licenses, harming competitors and consumers alike.”

The Copyright Office launched the website Thursday for the first U.S. copyright small-claims tribunal. CCB.gov will be the online hub for the Copyright Claims Board (CCB) under the Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement (Case) Act (see 2203250046). The CCB will begin hearing claims this spring.

Continental Automotive representatives warned that limiting part of the 5.9 GHz band exclusively for cellular vehicle-to-everything use could have negative implications because of intellectual property concerns. Continental supports C-V2X technologies and “has every intention of designing and manufacturing automotive parts and components that use C-V2X and the 5.9 GHz band,” the company told an aide to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. Shifting to a sole technology standard “complicates parts suppliers’ ability to license patented technologies included within the standards,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 19-138: “The cellular standard essential patents underlying C-V2X technologies incorporate thousands of patented technologies owned by companies throughout the supply chain, most of whom are not based in the United States. As a factual matter, many of the companies that own such patents refuse to license them to companies such as Continental, or insist only on unfair, unreasonable and discriminatory terms.” If not accompanied by a licensing requirement, Continental and its peers must “use a technology for which they may not be able to obtain the intellectual property licenses needed to remain fully in compliance with the U.S. Patent Laws.”

The Computer & Communications Industry Association looks forward to working with recently confirmed U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director Kathi Vidal to improve patent examination, the association said Wednesday. Computer & Communications Industry Association patent counsel Joshua Landau highlighted the need for high quality patent examination and to “strengthen the IPR system for second-look review of patents that never should have been issued." The Senate confirmed Vidal by voice vote Tuesday.