Stakeholders have until April 23 to file comments on the Copyright Royalty Board’s proceeding to determine the “distribution of the digital audio recording technology royalty fees in the 2013 Sound Recordings Fund,” a Tuesday Federal Register notice said. The filing fee is $150, it said.
Panasonic will provide access to its software, patents and experience royalty-free to speed development of the Internet of Things, it said Monday at the Embedded Linux Conference in San Jose. The company, a board member of the AllSeen Alliance, said it would also boost its intellectual property contributions to the alliance. Panasonic will make available mature and tested device-to-cloud software technology currently being used in home monitoring systems, solar energy and in retail applications, the company said. Chief Technology Officer Todd Rytting said Panasonic hopes its IoT initiative will “inspire other global companies to contribute intellectual property and ideas to making networks work together through this alliance.” Other premier members of the AllSeen Alliance are Electrolux, Haier, LG, Microsoft, Qeo, Qualcomm, Sharp, Sony, Silicon Image and TP-Link.
The Senate deserves praise for again "tackling" patent reform, CEA President Gary Shapiro said, citing hearings Wednesday and Thursday to study what he said is “the impact of abusive patent litigation practices ... on American businesses.” Since Congress last acted on patent reform legislation in December 2013, “patent trolls have bled over $100 billion from the U.S. economy,” Shapiro said Thursday in a statement. “And with each week that passes, trolls send more demand letters to small businesses and startups, and drain another $1.5 billion from our economy. The immense amount of money spent fighting bogus patent lawsuits amounts to a massive tax for over 80 percent of victims who are startups or small and medium businesses. Blatant patent extortion needs to be stopped.” Wednesday’s hearing was before the Senate Judiciary Committee (see 1503180042), and Thursday’s was before the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee. Shapiro has identified patent reform as one of CEA’s highest legislative priorities and has been an outspoken critic of former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., for “single-handedly” killing patent reform legislation in the last Congress (see 1411050022).
Three telecom giants from China and the U.S. led international patent filing activity via the World Intellectual Property Organization in 2014, the group said in a year-end review released Thursday. China and the U.S. combined caused 87 percent of the total growth in filings under WIPO’s Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), which saw some 215,000 applications in 2014, a 4.5 percent increase over the previous year, WIPO said. China’s Huawei, with 3,442 published PCT applications, was 2014’s most prolific applicant, followed by U.S.-based Qualcomm (2,409 published applications) and China’s ZTE (2,179 published applications). The U.S. was the most active country of origin for PCT filers in 2014, with 61,492 applications, a 7.1 increase from 2013, WIPO said. Japan followed with 42,459 applications, a 3 percent decline from 2013, it said. Applicants from China filed 25,539 applications, an 18.7 percent increase from 2013, putting China in third place in terms of PCT application activity, it said.
MPEG LA updated coverage of its High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) patent portfolio to reflect recent ITU revisions in the HEVC standard, the licensing group said in a Thursday announcement. License coverage now includes five variations of HEVC’s “main profile,” plus roughly 20 versions of “format range extension profiles,” it said. “The current royalty rates that apply to products which use one or more HEVC profiles remain unchanged.” MPEG LA runs the HEVC license program as a one-stop shop for about two dozen companies and universities that hold HEVC-related patents. Prominent companies on the list include Apple, Fujitsu, Hitachi Maxell, NEC, NTTDoCoMo, Samsung and Siemens.
Microsoft signed a broad patent cross-licensing agreement with Fuji Xerox, a provider of document managing systems, wrote Microsoft Executive Director-Technology Licensing Nick Psyhogeos in a blog post Thursday. The agreement “builds on our 2007 cross-licensing agreement, and offers expanded patent coverage to both companies,” Psyhogeos said. Microsoft announced a similar agreement with Melco Holdings Monday. “While patents, by definition, involve a right to exclude, Microsoft thinks about it differently,” Psyhogeos said. Microsoft’s licensing program has a goal of inclusion, he said, saying the company has signed more than 1,000 licensing agreements in the past 10 years. “Licensing of technologies contributes to the discovery and development of new synergies between innovative companies,” Psyhogeos said.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation applauded a statement by a coalition of Japanese activists and artists that protested proposed copyright provisions in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, said an EFF blog post Tuesday. EFF has characterized TPP copyright provisions as a “massive” threat for Internet users (see 1502130045). The Japanese coalition’s protest centered around TPP’s proposed extension of copyright terms, said EFF. “There has been growing opposition among Japanese users, artists, and fans against this copyright expansion -- which is nicknamed the ‘Mickey Mouse Law’ there due to Disney's heavy lobbying that led to the copyright extension in the United States nearly two decades ago,” it said. Disney didn’t comment.
The FTC approved 5-0 a settlement with MPHJ Technology Investments and its law firm Farney Daniels that was announced in November (see 1411130057), an agency news release said Tuesday. The FTC lawsuit alleged MPHJ and Farney Daniels “bought patents relating to network computer scanning technology, and then told thousands of small businesses that they were likely violating the patents and should purchase a license,” the commission said. MPHJ and Farney Daniels used “deceptive sales claims and phony legal threats in letters” to accuse “thousands of small businesses around the United States of patent infringement,” the release said. The case marks the first time the FTC has taken action using its consumer protection authority against a patent assertion entity, the agency said. The order bars MPHJ, Farney Daniels and MPHJ owner Jay Mac Rust from asserting patent rights, making false or unsubstantiated representations that a patent has been licensed in substantial numbers or has been licensed at particular prices, the FTC said.
The International Trade Commission voted Friday to begin a Tariff Act Section 337 investigation (ITC Inv. No. 337-TA-950) into allegations that Dell electronics with near field communication functions or battery power-up functions violate NXP Semiconductor patents, the ITC said. NXP filed the underlying complaint Feb. 10 (see 1502130026), alleging Dell’s XPS 15, XPS 12 and Jabra Revo Wireless headset copy its NFC technology that allows data exchange using radio technology over short distances, without special registration passkeys required by Bluetooth devices. NXP is asking for a limited exclusion order and cease and desist order banning import and sale of infringing Dell devices. A Dell spokesman declined to comment.
Barnes & Noble and Via Licensing settled their legal fight over Barnes & Noble’s use of the AAC codec in its Nook tablets, Via said Tuesday. Five years ago, Barnes & Noble licensed AAC patent rights from the AAC patent pool that Via administers for 11 companies, it said in a news release. Barnes & Noble breached the license, Via alleged in federal lawsuit filed in 2013. Terms of the settlement weren’t disclosed, but Barnes & Noble agreed to pay AAC royalties owed, Via said. Via, a Dolby Labs subsidiary, runs the AAC patent pool for AT&T, Dolby, Ericsson, Fraunhofer, Microsoft, NEC, NTT DoCoMo, Orange, Panasonic, Philips and Sony. Barnes & Noble representatives didn't comment.