Apple’s Aug. 7 complaint seeking declaratory judgment of noninfringement of Koss headphone patents got its third judge in little more than a week when the case was reassigned to U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar in Oakland, said an order (in Pacer) Monday in case 20-cv-05504. U.S. Magistrate Judge Sallie Kim was removed from the case, reasons undisclosed, days after another magistrate judge, Susan van Keulen, recused herself (see 2008090001), also for undisclosed reasons.

Administrative Law Judge Dee Lord at the International Trade Commission ordered Google, Lenovo and Nokia to file briefs by Aug. 26 showing cause why the Tariff Act Section 337 investigation into allegations that Lenovo computers, tablets and parts infringe five Nokia patents (see 2008050008) shouldn't be “severed” into two separate probes. “Substantial interests” drove Google last week to intervene in the investigation (see 2008130032) because the Lenovo devices accused of infringing U.S. patent 8,583,706 on user interfaces “infringe by way of their incorporation of the Google Assistant functionality.” The patent is alone among the five in Nokia's July 2 complaint not involving H.264 video compression. The “disparate issues” between the '706 patent and the standard-essential H.264 patents “make this investigation a candidate for severance” under ITC rules, said Lord’s order (login required), posted Friday in docket 337-TA-1208. Severing the investigation would promote "more efficient adjudication of issues” specific to the H.264 patents, she said. A separate probe limited to the ’706 patent “could likely be completed on a shorter timeline” than the H.264 investigation “because only a single patent would be at issue,” she said. Lord invited Google attorneys to participate in a Sept. 3 teleconference, "where the parties should be prepared to discuss Google’s intervention and the severance of the investigation."

Nearly two dozen iPhone and iPad models infringe five standard-essential patents for the enhanced voice services (EVS) codec for voice over LTE, alleged codec inventor VoiceAge in a complaint (in Pacer) in U.S. District Court in Wilmington, Delaware. Apple is guilty of direct infringement because all its listed devices “include hardware and software that implements the EVS codec” without a license, said VoiceAge Wednesday. Apple also is inducing third parties to directly infringe the patents, it said. In nearly five months of phone and email “interactions,” Apple “never expressed a willingness to take a license” on EVS on fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory (FRAND) terms, said VoiceAge. “Instead, Apple was nonresponsive, repeatedly delayed discussions, and refused to have good faith discussions” under a nondisclosure agreement, “contrary to the letter and spirit of FRAND,” it said. VoiceAge “was left with no other choice but to initiate this lawsuit,” it said. Apple didn’t comment.

Commissioner Rhonda Schmidtlein recused herself and her staff from participating in the International Trade Commission’s Tariff Act Section 337 investigation into Nokia’s complaint that Lenovo computers, tablets and components infringe four H.264 video compression patents and one on user interfaces, said a notice (login required) posted Tuesday in docket 337-TA-1208. Administrative Law Judge Dee Lord set a Dec. 10, 2021, target date for completing the investigation, said her order (login required) Tuesday. Schmidtlein also disqualified herself from the Section 337 probe into Sonos allegations that Google devices infringe five multiroom audio patents (see 2003050020). In both recusals, she gave no reason for disqualifying herself. The agency didn’t comment.

Amid telework and remote-learning, Q2 laptop and tablet imports soared by triple digits from Q1, according to new Census Bureau data we accessed Sunday through the International Trade Commission. U.S. importers sourced 31.15 million notebooks and tablets under Harmonized Tariff Schedule’s 8471.30.01, a 116% sequential increase and up 15% from the 2019 quarter. Dollar imports were $31.15 billion. China's 28.61 million units were 91.8% of all U.S.-bound shipments, up 124.7% from Q1 when China was starting to rebound from COVID-19 factory shutdowns and supply chain disruptions. TV unit imports under HTS 8528.72.64 were 11.54 million, up 45.7% from Q1 and a 32.9% increase from the 2019 quarter. The average was $219.59, 17.8% cheaper than in Q1 and a 29.8% decrease from the 2019 quarter. ITC's DataWeb keeps TV import records dating to 2007, and we couldn’t find a lower one. Mexico’s diminished role as a key supplier of premium TVs was one factor in the increased commoditization as the country grappled with COVID-19 shutdowns and disruptions for much of April. China was 38.6% of TV imports to the U.S. in Q2, more than double its 17.8% Q1 share. The average TV import with a screen size larger than 45 inches was $313.61. Census began tracking large-screen TV imports under the HTS 8528.72.64.60 in 2016, and we couldn’t find a lower average. Display Supply Chain Consultants President Bob O'Brien emailed Monday that as stay-at-home mandates proliferated, "low-priced TVs did well and high priced TVs did not," he said. "There were TVs bought for kids to do gaming, and for parents to stream, but the need to have the TV as a showcase (like when you're having a Super Bowl party) just evaporated."

A judge Friday terminated Paramount consent decrees, which regulate how certain movie studios distribute films to theaters (see 1911220068). U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres in Manhattan terminated the decrees, effective immediately, allowing "for a two-year sunset period on the Decrees’ provisions banning block booking and circuit dealing,” DOJ said.

Pirate subscription IPTV services generate $1 billion in annual revenue in the U.S. in subscriptions, and feature a "sophisticated supply chain and cutting-edge marketing and distribution techniques," Digital Citizens Alliance and digital media monetization security firm Nagra said Thursday. There's an estimated 9 million U.S. users of pirate IPTV, and they're targeted by 3,500 storefront websites, social media pages and stores within online marketplaces that sell pirate subscription IPTV services to the U.S. market target, it said. How much legitimate players such hosting services, payment processors and social media are aware of their role in this black market isn't clear, it said: The services also get revenue from ads shown before or during viewing or by partnering with hackers to install malware within free apps.

The International Trade Commission voted Tuesday to open a Tariff Act Section 337 investigation into Nokia allegations that Lenovo laptops, tablets, desktop PCs and components infringe four of its patents on H.264 video compression and a fifth on user interfaces (see 2007180001), said a notice (login required) posted Wednesday in docket 337-TA-1208. Nokia’s July 2 complaint seeks limited exclusion and cease-and-desist orders against the allegedly infringing devices and parts. Lenovo and its defenders argued in the runup to the investigation that an import ban would undermine the public interest because demand for laptops and other connectivity tools is spiking under work-from-home and remote-learning mandates. Nokia countered that Lenovo overstated its market importance and that other vendors easily could replace Lenovo’s excluded supply. Lenovo has 20 days to respond. It doesn't comment "on ongoing legal matters," emailed a spokesperson Wednesday.

A Customs and Border Protection "administrative ruling" clarifies "duty-free exemption status of low-value shipments sent to U.S. fulfillment centers and domestic warehouses,” said the agency Monday. “The ruling is intended to enhance accountability in the e-commerce environment while strengthening CBP’s ability to identify counterfeit goods, consumer safety violations, and other threats.” The “exponential growth” of e-commerce gave “illicit sellers” the “extraordinary opportunity to evade duties and sell unsafe and unregulated products,” said CBP. It won't “sit idly by and allow these bad actors to evade duties, report false values, and harm American businesses and consumers.”

The “remote play” and “share play” cloud-gaming features that Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) builds into the PlayStation 4 infringe a June 9 patent (10,681,109) for a display system with a visual server to generate and transmit images to a client, alleged an Intellectual Pixels Limited (IPL) complaint (in Pacer) Friday in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, California: The three 3DLabs engineers who invented the technology are co-owners of IPL, which holds the patent. “SIE has been seeking to capitalize on the revolutionary technology that IPL and the inventors developed,” it said. “It has already announced its intention to release a new PS5 console that will also utilize IPL’s technology.” IPL's new action came nearly a year to the day after it sued SIE in the same court alleging infringement of four older cloud-gaming patents (see 1907260051). SIE countersued IPL Jan. 21 for a declaratory judgment of noninfringement. The case remains active, but COVID-19 delayed its discovery phase when California went into lockdown in mid-March. SIE didn’t comment Monday.