Patents and trademarks motivated by “non-market factors,” such as subsidies, government mandates, “bad-faith” applications and “defensive countermeasures," can “undermine the reliability” of intellectual property “registries,” reported the Patent and Trademark Office Wednesday. The growing number of “suspect” applications filed in the U.S. from China prompted the agency to “study the reasons for this development.” Though PTO knows of no “public source information” showing what proportion of IP applications in China are motivated by subsidies, “it has observed the impact of Chinese subsidies granted for foreign trademark applications.” After Shenzhen and other cities began offering subsidies for overseas trademark applications, PTO experienced a “surge” in fraudulent applications originating in China, it said. Irregularities can abound, including narrowing the scope of “protections” available to IP owners “engaged in the legitimate sale of goods and services,” it said. “Absent consideration of the role of non-market factors, cross-border comparisons based on the raw number of trademark and patent applications risk overstating brand creation and innovation activity in China.” PTO offered no recommended remedies.

Cox Communications said it plans to appeal the verdict and award in music labels' copyright infringement suit. "This lawsuit is a travesty, and the ruling remains unwarranted, unjust and beyond excessive," it emailed us Wednesday after U.S. District Judge Liam O'Grady of Alexandria, Virginia, rejected its challenge of 2019's $1billion jury verdict amount (see 2002030066). In an order Tuesday (docket 18-cv-00950, in Pacer), O'Grady said Cox was arguing some of the 10,017 music works allegedly pirated by Cox broadband subscribers were derivative of others and thus ineligible for statutory damage awards, but "the number of derivative works in play in this case was a question for the jury" and Cox should have presented to the jury the evidence it presented to the court in its post-trial brief. "We absolutely should not be held liable for bad actions that others may have taken using Cox’s High-Speed Internet service," Cox told us. "We’re prepared to fight as long as necessary to correct this decision."

IBM landed 9,130 U.S. patents in 2020, the most of any enterprise for the 28th-straight year, said the company Tuesday. The inventions spanned “key technology fields,” including artificial intelligence, hybrid cloud, quantum computing and cybersecurity, it said. The patents were granted to inventors in 46 states and 54 countries, it said.

Asus ProArt PQ22UC 4K monitors bearing OLED panels sourced from Joled in Japan infringe Samsung Display’s September 2017 U.S. patent (9,768,240) on thin-film transistor array substrates for OLED screens, alleged a complaint (in Pacer) that the Korean panel maker filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Waco, Texas. Joled is a panel maker and R&D company forged from an expired Panasonic-Sony joint venture agreement and resurrected six years ago with public and private sector partners, including minority owners Panasonic and Sony (see 1408010054). It specializes in small runs of medium-sized OLED substrates, but its production volumes in the display panel supply chain are "tiny," emailed Display Supply Chain Consultants CEO Ross Young Friday. Samsung Display seeks a permanent injunction barring Asus and Joled from future infringement, plus punitive and compensatory damages. The defendants didn't respond to requests for comment.

Comments are due Jan. 19 in docket 337-3520 at the International Trade Commission on public interest ramifications of the Tariff Act Section 337 import ban Ericsson seeks in a Jan. 4 complaint (login required) against Samsung smartphones, tablets and smart TVs, said Friday’s Federal Register. Ericsson alleges the Samsung devices with wireless connectivity infringe four of its patents. Ericsson asserted similar against Samsung in a New Year’s Day complaint in U.S. District Court in Marshall, Texas (see 2101030001). Samsung didn’t comment.

Strengthen U.S. measures to slow China technology growth, including prohibitions on Chinese acquisitions of American technology, an Information Technology and Innovation Foundation virtual event was told last week. ITIF President Robert Atkinson said China’s “technology advancements come at the cost of European technology advancements and U.S. technology advancements.” European countries don't feel responsible for countering Chinese tech advancements, responded Daniel Gros, Centre for European Policy Studies director. Atkinson isn't “on the side of full decoupling,” and the U.S. should be working with allies to “push back against” China and its unfair trade practices, especially in the tech sector, the ITIF chief said Wednesday. Though the Trump administration has often opted not to pursue multilateral cooperation, Atkinson said the incoming Joe Biden administration will do more and “mend some of the fences that were unfortunately broken” with allies. The White House and China's embassy in Washington didn't comment Friday.

Video doorbells and IP cameras from Vivint Smart Home don’t infringe seven patents from SkyBell, SB IP Holdings and Eyetalk365 because the patents are “invalid,” commented the supplier Tuesday (login required) in International Trade Commission docket 337-3517. Arlo Technologies and SimpliSafe similarly argued a day earlier that all the allegedly infringed patents were continuations of an October 2002 application that was abandoned for nonpayment of fees and was never resurrected (see report, Jan. 7). Document snafus prevented Vivint from filing its comments until minutes after Tuesday’s deadline, it told the ITC (login required).

Comments are due Jan. 12 in International Trade Commission docket 337-3518 on public-interest ramifications of the Tariff Act Section 337 import ban that Solas OLED seeks against AMOLED devices and components from BOE, LG, Samsung and Sony for allegedly infringing three display technology patents, said Monday’s Federal Register. Permitting “unlicensed parties” like the proposed respondents to “continue their unfair acts” would devalue the patents and undermine the investments of Solas licensee eMagin to manufacture OLED in the U.S., said Solas’ Dec. 28 complaint (login required). BOE, LG, Samsung and Sony didn’t comment Tuesday.

Neodron settled with 10 major consumer tech brands, ending “high profile legal actions concerning allegations of patent infringement against those companies,” said the technology licensor Tuesday. Neodron didn't name the companies, but filed Tariff Act Section 337 complaints at the International Trade Commission since 2019 against Amazon, Apple, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, LG, Microsoft, Motorola, Samsung and Sony, all seeking import bans against their devices for allegedly infringing four touch sensor patents.

Sonos is “always looking at new ways to deliver the best possible experience for our customers,” emailed a spokesperson about the U.S. patent the company landed last week for reducing the stress of finding and playing back streamed digital audio content by emulating the functionality of an old-fashioned radio (see 2012290001). “We don’t have any further details to share at this time.”