Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) infringes four “foundational” patents in cloud-gaming through manufacture, use and sale of the PlayStation Now game-streaming service, and its "hosting" of games on the PlayStation Now server, alleged a complaint (in Pacer) Thursday in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, California. 3DLabs CEO Osman Kent and his "chief architects" at 3DLabs, David Baldwin and Nicholas Murphy, invented the “groundbreaking technology” behind PlayStation Now, and the patents now belong to Intellectual Pixels Ltd. (IPL), a British firm co-owned by the original 3DLabs founders, said the complaint. “Decades before SIE and others started touting cloud gaming as the new frontier, pioneers in the field of graphics processing invented the fundamental technologies for enabling cloud gaming and streaming graphics applications,” it said. Though “never commercialized” at 3DLabs, “the concept of cloud gaming and streaming other graphics applications from a server or the cloud to a client device was considered one of the most valuable inventions” the firm developed, it said. 3DLabs rebranded itself ZiiLabs in 2009 and still services the “legacy” PC graphics cards it helped pioneer in the 1990s. SIE didn’t comment Friday.

Vodafone will license its LTE “standard essential” intellectual property through the Via Licensing one-stop patent pool, said the pool’s administrator Monday. Vodafone is the 21st licensor to join the LTE pool, it said.

A spike in fraudulent trademark applications, mostly from China, is blocking new innovation and harming small businesses, said House Intellectual Property Subcommittee Chairman Hank Johnson, D-Ga., at a hearing Thursday. He’s crafting legislation to combat frivolous trademark applications (see 1905090055). Congress needs to know what additional authority the Patent and Trademark Office might need to address that issue, plus data about the prevalence of counterfeit goods online, said ranking member Martha Roby, R-Ala. Commissioner for Trademarks Mary Boney Denison highlighted PTO efforts to thwart bad trademark applications, including requiring foreign applicants hire a U.S. lawyer to hold them accountable and auditing post-registration maintenance filings for irregularities. The agency is updating its examination guidance and training for employees and creating a task force to develop additional remedies, she said. A new electronic database will also help, as will updated requirements for specimens, voluntary updates to trademarks and providing education to applicants on use and commerce, said the official. House Judiciary ranking member Doug Collins, R-Ga., targeted e-commerce platforms, which some say aren’t doing enough to combat counterfeit goods online. Roby said phony items have an economic impact and carry human health and safety risks. E-commerce platforms “have the choice to aggressively protect consumers from counterfeits and show respect for others’ property rights, but brand owners argue some are making a merely cosmetic effort,” Collins said. He urged effective policies and practices that detect and block counterfeit sales automatically, swift response to consumer complaints and quick removal and banning of fraudulent sellers.

Samsung hatched a scheme at January 2012 CES to steal the trade secrets of mobile wallet solutions provider Dynamics and embed the stolen technology in at least 10 models of Galaxy smartphones dating to the S8, alleged a complaint Friday (in Pacer) in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. Samsung beckoned Dynamics CEO Jeffrey Mullin to leave his company’s CES booth on Day One of the show to meet with Samsung executives in a private Bellagio Hotel suite, said the complaint. Under a “duly executed” nondisclosure agreement signed at the Bellagio, Mullen “demonstrated Dynamics’s magnetic emulation technologies to Samsung personnel and discussed, pursuant to the NDA, how the technologies could be incorporated into a device,” it said. “At some point in time” after the Bellagio meetings with Mullen, Samsung began feeding the technological secrets, in violation of the NDA, to LoopPay, a Dynamics competitor that Samsung bought three years later (see 1502180051), it said. Without the Dynamics information Mullen disclosed to Samsung under the NDA, “neither LoopPay nor Samsung would have incorporated the magnetic emulation features into Samsung products that provide consumers with the ability to complete safe and secure financial and other transactions,” it said. “Dynamics is the rightful recipient and owner of at least the purchase price Samsung paid for LoopPay,” plus the “substantial revenue” directly related to the technologies Mullen disclosed at CES to Samsung under the NDA, it said. Samsung never publicly disclosed what it paid for LoopPay, but Dynamics believes it to be roughly $250 million, it said. Samsung didn’t comment Friday.

TiVo signed a global intellectual property license agreement with LG, it said Tuesday. It expands on LG's previous Rovi patent portfolio license to add the TiVo patent portfolio.

Streaming accounts for more than 80 percent of stolen and shared content globally, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce reported Tuesday. About “26.6 billion viewings of U.S.-produced movies and 126.7 billion viewings of U.S.-produced TV episodes are digitally pirated” annually, said the report.

DOJ initiated formal review of the ASCAP and BMI consent decrees Wednesday, as expected (see 1903010052), requesting comment through July 10. The review’s purpose “is to determine whether the decrees should be maintained in their current form, modified, or terminated,” Justice said. First issued in 1941, the ASCAP consent decree was last modified in 2001 and BMI in 1941. “It is important for the Division to reassess periodically whether these decrees continue to serve the American consumer and whether they should be changed to achieve greater efficiency and enhance competition in light of innovations in the industry,” Antitrust Division Chief Makan Delrahim said. DOJ included several questions in the solicitation: Do the decrees serve important competitive purposes, or are they no longer necessary? Do they effectively protect competition? What modifications would enhance competition and efficiency? Would termination serve the public interest? Would a delayed termination be more beneficial? Are “existing antitrust statutes and applicable case law sufficient to protect competition in the absence of the Consent Decrees”? ASCAP CEO Elizabeth Matthews welcomed the news: “A more flexible framework with less government regulation will allow us to compete in a free market, which we believe is the best way for our music creators to be rewarded for the value of their music.” BMI looks “forward to working with the DOJ, licensees and our other music partners to help ensure a smooth process that safeguards a vibrant future for music.” NAB appreciates the “tone” of DOJ’s inquiry regarding the ongoing importance of the framework, CEO Gordon Smith said: “Absent broader legislative reforms, their preservation is essential to a fully functional music marketplace.” The “modification, elimination or even the possible sunset of the decrees at the present time would lead to chaos for the entire marketplace,” MIC Coalition said, noting the decrees have helped mitigate anticompetitive behavior.

The argument Charter Communications is complicit in copyright infringement due to piracy by its internet subscribers "stretches vicarious liability beyond the breaking point," it said in a motion to dismiss the vicarious liability claim (in Pacer, docket 19-cv-00874) filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Denver. It said the music label and publisher plaintiffs' contributory infringement claim also will fail since they can't prove direct infringement of their copyrights but that it was challenging only vicarious liability in the motion. It said the vicarious liability claim lacks any plausible allegation Charter directly saw financial benefit from the alleged infringing activity or that it can control that alleged infringement since it can't monitor and control its subscribers' internet use. Outside counsel for the music industry plaintiffs didn't comment Wednesday. Some of the same plaintiffs suing Charter (see 1903250004) also are suing cable ISPs Grande Communications (see 1802080001) and Cox Communications (see 1808020009).

The Senate Intellectual Property Subcommittee plans a hearing on patent eligibility, 2:30 p.m. Tuesday in 226 Dirksen. Witnesses are ex-Chief Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Paul Michel, ex-Patent and Trademark Office Undersecretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property Todd Dickinson, ex-PTO Undersecretary of Commerce for IP David Kappos, R Street Institute Director-Technology and Innovation and Senior Fellow Charles Duan, University of California College of Law Associate Academic Dean Jeffrey Lefstin, IP Strategy and Policy consultant Robert Armitage, Southern Methodist University associate law professor David Taylor, Knowles Intellectual Property Strategies Principal Sherry Knowles, Electronic Frontier Foundation Staff IP Attorney Alex Moss, Stanford University School of Law professor Mark Lemley, American Enterprise Institute adjunct fellow Michael Rosen, Boston University associate law professor Paul Gugliuzza, DePaul University law professor Joshua Sarnoff and U.S. Chamber of Commerce Senior Vice President-Global Innovation Policy Center Patrick Kilbride.

Reps. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and Doug Collins, R-Ga., reintroduced legislation Wednesday establishing a voluntary small claims board within the Copyright Office (see 1902060045). The Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act helps “small creators better defend their work products,” they said.