Via Licensing said Wednesday it added nearly 100 BlackBerry patents to its LTE patent pools. The patents have coverage in 23 countries, it said.

The Senate Intellectual Property Subcommittee scheduled a hearing on the role of IP in sports and public safety at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday in 226 Dirksen. Witnesses are: Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America CEO Matt Priest, Specialized Bicycles Brand Security/Investigations Andrew Love, Endeavor Senior Vice President Riche McKnight and NBA Properties Vice President Michael Potenza.

In digital markets, “as in all markets,” DOJ’s Antitrust Division “advocates for a careful application of the competition laws that takes into account both the short-term and long-term effects on innovation,” Deputy Assistant Attorney General Roger Alford told the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan Wednesday in Tokyo. “Preserving incentives to innovate is also important to Japan, a leader in innovation and technology,” he said. “American consumers benefit greatly from Japanese inventions across different industries. The Sony Walkman was a breakthrough technology that gave music lovers like me a way to listen to music on the go.” Strong intellectual property protections are “key for unlocking innovation,” he said. The Antitrust Division “has sought to curb the misapplication of antitrust law in this area,” he said. “In our view, there should be no free-standing obligation to license patent rights under antitrust law. Similarly, we believe that an unconditional refusal to license a patent, on its own, does not give rise to antitrust liability. We are concerned that using the antitrust laws to police the exercise of an exclusive intellectual property right ultimately will undermine the incentives to innovate and engage in dynamic competition.”

Vivint received the Utah Genius Award as the leading company for the number of patents landed -- 74 out of a statewide 2,185 -- in 2018, it said Tuesday. The patents cover technology for the company’s smart home platform and services. Three Vivint executives were among the state’s top 20 patent recipients: Chief Technology Officer Jeremy Warren with 33; Chief Product Operations Officer Jim Nye, 22, and Executive Vice President Matt Eyring, 16, it said.

Apple landed publication Thursday of a Dec. 6 patent application on using “human sleep detection” to adjust an iPhone’s alarm setting that allows the user to get a full night’s rest, said Patent and Trademark Office records. “Most people do not fall asleep right away when they go to bed,” said the application (20190104985) listing six inventors, including sleep scientist Roy Raymann, a former Apple executive who joined the healthcare research startup SleepScore Labs two years ago. Even someone who goes to bed at “an appropriate time” to get eight hours of sleep will often end up with only six or seven hours “when the alarm goes off in the morning” because of tossing and turning during overnight periods of sleep "latency," it said. The mobile device “can help the user feel more rested by automatically adjusting an alarm,” delaying the wakeup time “based on the determined sleep onset latency,” it said. The science inside the device can also study recent sleep-latency trends to suggest "an earlier bedtime," it said. The application didn't say who would phone the boss when the alarm-delay function causes the user to oversleep. Apple didn’t comment.

The International Trade Commission is investigating whether imports of data transmission devices violate Section 337 by infringing patents, the ITC announced and the Federal Register published. The probe is at the request of Data Scape and C-Scape, which say smartphones, tablets and computers from Amazon, Verizon, Apple and Cellco (dba Verizon Wireless) copy their patented technology, used in iCandy LED tickers, namely the ability to transfer data between the devices and allow changes on one device to be made in both. The ITC said it will consider whether to issue a limited exclusion order and cease and desist orders barring import and sale of infringing data transmission devices by those companies. Tuesday, the companies didn't comment.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing is “confident in its proprietary and independently developed technology and will defend its technology and business against any patent challenge,” emailed a spokesperson Wednesday. The International Trade Commission launched a Tariff Act Section 337 investigation into allegations the company is manufacturing semiconductor devices that infringe patents held by Innovative Foundry Technologies (see 1904030030).

The International Trade Commission launched a Tariff Act Section 337 investigation into allegations Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is manufacturing semiconductor devices that infringe patents held by Innovative Foundry Technologies, the ITC said. Innovative says TSMC’s infringing semiconductors are then incorporated into integrated circuits made by MediaTek and Qualcomm, which are then incorporated into BBK, Hisense, TCL and Vizio smartphones, tablets, smartwatches and televisions. The ITC will consider whether to issue a limited exclusion order and cease and desist order banning import and sale of infringing semiconductor chips and the integrated circuits and consumer electronics that contain them. TSMC didn't comment Wednesday.

Haier and Skyworth joined the Advanced Audio Coding patent pool, said administrator Via Licensing Monday (here and here). The AAC pool has 900 global licensees, it said.

NTIA Administrator David Redl is among those set to testify at a Tuesday Senate Appropriations Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Subcommittee hearing on the Department of Commerce's FY 2020 budget request. President Donald Trump's administration proposed more than $42.4 million in funding for NTIA. That’s up from the more than $33 million proposed in FY 2019 and the $39.5 million ultimately allocated (see 1903180063). The hearing will begin at 2 p.m. in G50 Dirksen, the Senate Appropriations Committee said. Also scheduled to testify are National Institute of Standards and Technology Director Walter Copan and Patent and Trademark Office Director Andrei Iancu. The Trump administration proposed allocating $955.58 million to NIST and $3.45 billion to PTO.