The International Trade Commission launched a Tariff Act Section 337 investigation (docket 337-TA-1148) March 11 that could lead to a ban on imports of certain integrated circuits and the devices that contain them. In a Dec. 19 complaint, Tela Innovations accused Intel and Acer, Asus, Lenovo, Micro-Star and their U.S. subsidiaries of copying its patented layout optimization technology for ICs and incorporating those chips into downstream products. The ITC will consider whether to issue a limited exclusion order banning import and sale of the allegedly infringing products. Intel and Lenovo declined comment, and the others named in the investigation didn't respond to emails. Intel and Lenovo, in Feb. 22 comments on the public interest ramifications of Tela’s complaint, said an import ban would harm many in the public and private sectors. “The accused processors are foundational for the U.S. economy,” said Intel (login required). “These Intel processors are used in computers across every major sector of U.S. industry and in defense, government, healthcare, banking, and education.” Lenovo said (login required) banning its PCs and their embedded Intel processors would “degrade the ability of Lenovo’s customers, including healthcare providers, to deliver vital services effectively and efficiently.”

Two Apple inventors devised a solution for protecting the "cavity" in a smartphone's input/output port against water and debris by coating the device's housing with “electrically conductive” film, said a patent application (2019/0069848) published Thursday at the Patent and Trademark Office. The deposited film can provide a robust “pathway” leading into and out of the housing, said the application, filed in September. The pathway “can be configured to relay sensor readings and/or power between the inside and outside of the housing," especially if it's fashioned from materials that are “unlikely to bend or deform,” it said. Housings made from glass, sapphire or ceramic substrates are more likely to hold their shape than aluminum, plus they “also have the advantage of being electrically insulating, thereby allowing the electrically conductive pathways to be deposited” directly on the substrates, it said. The film coating ideally should have a thickness between 0.5 and 10 microns, but the thickness can be “adjusted” up or down, depending how much electrical current is needed for the deployment, it said. Apple didn’t comment.

Industry is very interested in participating in the next blockchain proof of concept involving intellectual property rights, said Vincent Annunziato, director of Customs and Border Protection’s Business Transformation and Innovation Division, at CBP's Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee’s Thursday meeting. “We are almost 100 percent definite with moving forward” soon with the IP rights piece, he said. “We’re hearing now that we're having about 70 people that want to come and participate.” CBP is working with parent agency Department of Homeland Security on a test of “verifiable credentials” that uses “third-party verification through consensus to prove somebody is who they say they are.”

Chipmaker Marvell Technology Group is the 21st licensor to join Via Licensing’s LTE patent pool, said the pool administrator Tuesday. The pool “offers the industry a fair, transparent, and cost-effective means to obtain a license” to all LTE-essential patents, said Via. The program is royalty-free for the first 100,000 unit shipments of smartphones and tablets. Fees rise progressively to $2.10 per unit for shipments exceeding 2.5 million devices.

Mathematical concepts, mental processes and “certain methods of organizing human activity” qualify as abstract ideas excepted from patent eligibility, the Patent and Trademark Office said Friday. That’s one of the key changes the PTO included in guidance documents reflecting the Alice and Mayo Supreme Court decisions (see 1804180073). The guidance, in effect Monday, is open to comment until March 8. A second guidance document concerns computer-implemented inventions: “The guidance describes proper application of means-plus-function principles under § 112(f), definiteness under § 112(b), and written description and enablement under § 112(a).”

Chairman Joe Simons recused himself from the FTC’s Qualcomm case in California federal court claiming anti-competitive patent licensing behavior (see 1809190041), an agency spokesperson said Tuesday. The spokesperson declined to give a reason. Simons previously was a partner at Paul Weiss, which has represented Qualcomm. Simons’ recusal divides the commissioners evenly along party lines, and the commission wouldn't act in a 2-2 vote. Documents Simons submitted to the agency disclosing his previous clients and investments don't list any Qualcomm entities. A federal judge on Tuesday denied a joint request from the FTC and Qualcomm to delay the ruling to allow for settlement talks.

Home entertainment content typically includes a “default audio track” that the content creator establishes but that doesn’t “suit the listening preferences of different users,” in terms of volume and other sound parameters, said a Roku patent (10,091,581) awarded Friday at the Patent and Trademark Office. The patent, based on a July 2015 application, describes a method for creating a “desired audio effect” by causing a “plurality of speakers to play test signals, where each test signal is specific to one of the speakers.” Frequency responses of the speakers resulting from the playing of the test signals are recorded, and “one or more filters matching an audio profile selected by a user is created,” it says. “Then, the filters are applied to the recorded frequency responses to obtain filtered transformations of the speakers. The filtered transformations are applied at the speakers to thereby achieve the user audio profile.” Roku didn’t comment on the invention’s commercial applicability.

Vizio fashioned a method for zooming into selected portions of the graphics layer of a display screen to help visually impaired viewers better navigate their TVs' onscreen menus, said a U.S. patent application (20180275856) published Thursday at the Patent and Trademark Office. Visually impaired consumers often have trouble viewing menus on their TV screens, said the application, which was filed in March 2017 and names Marcus Apitz, Peter Schwartz and Polly Stecyk as the inventors. Apitz is Vizio’s senior vice president-technology, Schwartz is senior director-product management and Stecyk is its human factors specialist. “Many televisions allow the viewer, through setup menus, to zoom the image,” said the application. “Typically, this feature is invoked when the source content being viewed is a 4:3 aspect ratio and the television is a 16:9 aspect ratio.” Problems arise when “user interface data and viewer interfaces cannot be stretched or zoomed to be larger like video content being displayed,” it said. “The inventors recognized that televisions are not just for people to watch video content but also for people that are visually impaired, people who use a television to play music or to stream weather reports, stock prices and other information.” Their solution was to devise a “zooming display system” featuring multiple “numbered zones,” each controllable through an “arrow/navigation key” or by pressing the appropriate number on the remote, it said: “The zones are zoomed to a larger size. When zoom mode is selected, the system can automatically select a zone based on what is being done on the display at the time of the selection.” Vizio didn’t comment on the invention’s commercial implications.

The International Trade Commission opened a Tariff Act Section 337 investigation (docket 337-TA-1131) into allegations that imports of wireless mesh networking products from Analog Devices, its Linear Technology subsidiary and Emerson Electric and several of its affiliates infringe Sipco patents, said an agency notice. In an Aug. 3 complaint (login required), Sipco alleged the companies are manufacturing or importing the infringing products, used for monitoring or controlling wireless remote devices in industrial environments by way of a self-healing network. The ITC will consider whether to issue a limited exclusion order and cease and desist orders against the companies, said the notice. Analog Devices and Emerson, in Aug. 20 filings (login required), denied the allegations.

Two Apple inventors fashioned a design for a sensor that can take the guesswork out of telling fitness enthusiasts when their sneakers are worn out and need to be replaced, said a patent application (20180249783) published Thursday at the Patent and Trademark Office. In one “embodiment” of the invention, a “detector” senses a “physical metric that changes as a shoe wears out,” triggering an alarm on a smartphone or smartwatch, said the application, which was filed May 7. Shoes “provide support during intense physical activity,” it says. “As a shoe wears, physical support provided by the shoe decreases, thereby reducing associated protection from injury. When a critical wear level is reached, even if the shoe looks like it is not particularly worn, the shoe may not provide adequate support and may, in fact, cause damage to feet.” Apple didn't comment.