The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative received some 380 comments on the possibility of punishing Austria, Brazil, the Czech Republic, India, Indonesia, Italy, Spain, Turkey and the U.K. if they start collecting digital service taxes as proposed. USTR is also considering punishing the EU, which is considering a unionwide DST. Trade groups that are concerned about the proposed DSTs -- including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce -- asked the U.S. to continue working toward a global solution through the Organization of Community and Economic Development. Tech groups are less worried about such penalties over other countries' DSTs. "Contrary to some press accounts, the Chamber understands real progress has been achieved in some aspects of the negotiations under way," it wrote. Associations whose tech members would be most affected by DST didn't discourage the use of tariffs. The Information Technology Industry Council said Belgium and Kenya should also be in the crosshairs, because they are also considering such taxes. The Computer & Communications Industry Association praised the use of tariff threats on France's DST, suggesting it could be effective again. "CCIA takes seriously the impact that tariffs can have and, as a general policy view, believes that they only be used in limited circumstances, in a targeted manner, and where there is a clear strategy in place designed to change the behavior of a trading partner. In the French case, it was encouraging that this strong action led to the temporary pause of collection on behalf of the French government in January 2020." The docket is USTR-2020-0022 and here. USTR announced this month it's delaying duties on French goods for now (see 2007100057).

Netflix believes Fortress Investment Group is bankrolling infringement litigation that “patent assertion entity” Uniloc 2017 filed against the streaming company, and wants the court to force Fortress to produce documents under subpoena to expose their conspiracy, said a motion to compel (in Pacer) Friday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. Uniloc sued Netflix in November 2018 in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles alleging infringement of three patents for accessing internet video content. It was one of several identical complaints Uniloc filed against other streaming services, including Hulu and Roku. All countersued. Uniloc’s “sole activity is serially litigating patents against operating companies to grind them down and force settlements far beyond the intrinsic value of the asserted patents,” said Netflix in a memorandum supporting the motion. Uniloc itself “does not determine which patents to litigate,” it said. “Someone has performed a business analysis of the patents” and directed Uniloc which ones to buy and “litigate them against Netflix,” it said. “That someone is Fortress.” Netflix served subpoenas on Fortress June 17 for financial records, emails and other documents, and demanded it produce a witness to be deposed, it said. “Fortress responded with a flat refusal to produce a single document or a witness on any of the narrow topics Netflix specified.” Fortress didn’t comment.

The International Trade Commission seeks $2.75 million more for FY 2020, without which it “faces a high risk of failing to successfully carry out” the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement on free trade, Chair Jason Kearns wrote House Commerce Subcommittee leadership Wednesday. The ITC also risks “not meeting its other statutory responsibilities” next fiscal year, “due to a historic increase in workload for all investigative areas,” said Kearns. Unfair import investigations under Tariff Act Section 337 “have remained at historically high levels,” he said. Trump administrative trade policy actions resulted in a “substantial number of revisions to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule, he said. ITC staff have completed 22 HTS revisions this year, compared with the historical “context” of two or three revisions annually, he said.

Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Cable's challenge to the FCC's finding the AT&T TV Now streaming service is effective competition to Charter cable service in Massachusetts and part of Hawaii (see 1912230063) comes from a "cramped reading" of statutes and regulation that makes only facilities-based cable operators effective competitors under the LEC test. That's according to the FCC in a docket respondent brief Wednesday (in Pacer, docket 19-2282) with the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. It said MDTC's "unduly narrow" LEC test goes against Congress wanting cable rates be set by competition, not regulation. It urged MDTC's petition be denied. The state agency didn't comment.

TiVo expanded intellectual property agreements with CommScope, it said Tuesday. The multiyear deal licenses patents for CommScope products, including Arris set-top platforms, it said.

U.S. unlocked smartphone owners grew to 50.1 million active users at the end of Q1, up 8% from the same 2019 quarter, reported NPD Thursday. “Unlocked smartphone users, who generally tend to be more tech-savvy than average smartphone users, unsurprisingly over-indexed in their awareness of the 5G technology.” NPD canvassed 1,500 unlocked smartphone adults in May, and found 42% said they would be very or extremely interested in buying a 5G smartphone, compared with only 31% of locked phone owners.

DOJ’s Antitrust Division will host a virtual workshop July 28-29 on “competition in the licensing of public performance rights in the music industry.” DOJ said it will be an opportunity for public feedback on the ASCAP and BMI consent decrees (see 2002050052) and implications for antitrust law enforcement. Comments are due July 22. Panelists will discuss whether certain terms “should be modified, and whether the decrees are inhibiting innovative business models that may hurt consumers or artists,” Justice said. Speakers will include executives, performing rights organizations, songwriters, music publishers, music licenses and legal and economic experts.

Strong enforcement against unfair trade practices “boosts U.S. exports, facilitates innovation, and supports job creation here at home,” the Alliance for Trade Enforcement wrote U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer Wednesday. The alliance is a coalition of trade associations and business groups, including MPA, RIAA and the Telecommunications Industry Association. To end bad trade behavior, the alliance “supports actions and policies that encourage U.S. trading partners to open their markets, reduce barriers to trade, and provide effective protection and enforcement of intellectual property (IP) rights,” it said. With the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement on free trade now in effect, “we must ensure that Canada and Mexico abide by the commitments that they have made and treat U.S. interests fairly,” the letter said. It hails the “important leap forward” of USMCA’s digital trade provisions,” it said. Mexico has been a “major source of camcorded movies” uploaded to the internet, “facilitating international piracy of American content,” it said. USMCA requires Mexico to impose “enhanced criminal remedies into its national law,” it said. USTR didn’t comment.

Nokia seeks a limited exclusion order banning imports of Lenovo laptops, desktops, tablets, smart home devices and components that allegedly infringe five of its patents, said a Tariff Act Section 337 complaint (login required) filed July 2 with the International Trade Commission. Four of the patents involve H.264 video compression, the fifth concerns user interfaces. Nokia’s complaint identifies Lenovo’s ThinkPad, IdeaPad and Flex lines of laptops as copying its patented technology. “Nokia does not currently seek to exclude Lenovo products that include cellular functionality,” it said. Nokia also seeks cease and desist orders banning import and sale of infringing merchandise from Lenovo. Comments are due to the ITC by July 17. Lenovo didn't comment Wednesday.

Kiss Library runs virtual bookstores advertising "‘unbeatable prices’ for a simple reason: its catalogs are replete with pirated ebooks,” Amazon and Penguin Random House alleged (in Pacer) in U.S. District Court in Seattle. Kiss Library’s illegal actions “divert potential customers to its sites, where authors and publishers do not receive any royalties for the sales,” it said Tuesday. John Grisham, Doug Preston, Monique Truong, Scott Turow and eight other authors joined as plaintiffs. “This lawsuit aims to bring down” Kiss Library to stop its “notorious pirating and unlawful copying, display, distribution, and sale of their ebooks” in the U.S., it said. Kiss Library didn’t comment.