The Senate Judiciary Committee voted unanimously to approve Andrei Iancu as director of the Patent and Trademark Office Thursday. Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said Iancu is “extremely knowledgeable about the intellectual property field” and will be a “responsible leader” based on his experience with a wide array of IP issues. President Donald Trump nominated Iancu a few months ago (see 1709060017 or 1709060026).

Global filings for patents, trademarks and industrial designs climbed to “record heights” in 2016 “amid soaring demand in China,” which processed more patent applications than the combined total for the U.S., Japan, South Korea and Europe, the World Intellectual Property Organization reported Wednesday. Inventors filed 3.1 million patent applications globally in 2016, an 8.3 percent increase from 2015. China received about 236,600 of the nearly 240,600 additional patent filings, accounting for 98 percent of total growth. China also drove the 16.4 percent increase in trademark applications to about 7 million, and the 10.4 percent increase in worldwide industrial design applications to nearly 1 million. Chinese patent authorities received a record 1.3 million patent applications in 2016 to lead the world, and the U.S. was a distant second with 606,000 applications filed. Rounding out the top five in patent applications filed: (1) Japan, with 318,000; (2) South Korea, 209,000; (3) Europe, 159,000. On a per-capita basis, Germany was the global leader, followed by Japan, South Korea, the U.S. and China.

While Apple pins faith on facial recognition to unlock secure iPhones, Samsung is going back to basics with fingerprint sensing but with a new twist. Samsung’s plan, as described in U.S. patent application 2017/0336906 published Thanksgiving Day at the Patent and Trademark Office, is to make a smartphone's touch screen of conventional appearance function also as a fingerprint sensor. Conventionally, the fingerprint sensor is separate from the main touch screen, because the sensor requires higher resolution for reliable recognition than touch sensing for screen control commands, said the application. Samsung’s solution is to make the touch screen capable of switching resolution, it said. A capacitance touch screen detects when a fingertip is placed on the screen surface and held in the same position for a second or two, it said. The screen then isolates an area around the touch position and performs a secondary scan of just that area with much higher resolution, it said. If the captured scan image of the fingertip matches a reference image that the rightful owner previously has stored, the phone unlocks and switches the screen back to normal touch control, it said. By reducing the screen area that needs to be scanned in high resolution, “speedy fingerprint recognition becomes possible,” it said. Samsung didn’t comment.

The International Trade Commission is issuing a limited exclusion order and cease and desist orders banning import and sale of Comcast X1 set-top boxes, it said. The commission said Comcast DVRs infringe Rovi patents, in a Tariffs Act Section 337 investigation it began in May 2016(see 1706150042). The ITC won't require a bond for import of subject DVRs from Comcast during the 60 days the Trump administration has to review the exclusion order, it said in Tuesday's Federal Register. Rovi never disputed that the cable operator or its predecessors independently developed the X1 platform and its cloud- and app-based technology, a spokeswoman for Comcast said: "While we believe the ITC reached the wrong decision, we will remove this feature from those offered to our subscribers while we pursue an appeal.”

The International Trade Commission began a Tariffs Act Section 337 investigation into allegations that Apple computers and mobile devices infringe patents held by Aqua Connect and subsidiary Strategic Technology Partners, the ITC announced Tuesday. In a complaint filed Oct. 10, the two companies said Apple Mac computers running macOS 10.7 or above, Apple iPhones, iPads and iPods running iOS 5 or above, and Apple TV products, second generation and above, copy Strategic Technology Partners’ patented screen sharing technology. The ITC will consider whether to issue a cease and desist order against Apple, as well as a limited exclusion order banning import of Apple products that infringe the patents. Aqua Connect and Strategic Technology Partners sought a temporary cease and desist order and a temporary exclusion order while the ITC considers the case. Apple didn't comment Wednesday.

Comments are due Nov. 9 at the International Trade Commission on public-interest implications of an import ban being sought by LG Chem and Toray Industries against Amperex, DJI and Oppo products on grounds that they contain batteries with composite separators that infringe several patents. LG Chem and Toray alleged in an Oct. 25 Tariff Act Section 337 complaint (login required) in ITC docket 3269 that Amperex manufactures lithium-ion cells that copy the safety reinforce separator technology described in three U.S. patents granted 2009-2010, which are then incorporated into DJI drones and Oppo headphone amplifiers and smartphones. LG Chem and Toray seek limited exclusion and cease and desist orders banning import and sale of the infringing Amperex batteries and the “downstream” DJI and Oppo products containing them, said the complaint. Granting LG Chem and Toray the import ban they seek “will provide effective relief” amid the “ongoing and open patent infringement” taking place with "little or no adverse effect” on the public interest, said the complaint. LG Chem, Toray and “third parties are capable of meeting U.S. market demand in the event of exclusion,” it said. “Similarly, downstream markets are sufficiently competitive and diverse to ensure continued supply” even if the listed products are banned, it said. “It is thus unlikely that consumers would experience any supply-related impact if the orders should issue.” Amperex, DJI and Oppo representatives didn’t comment Wednesday.

​Roku landed a patent Tuesday for an audio device with a cooling fan that turns itself on and off automatically based on the volume level of the content being played. “This reduces the amount of time the cooling device is turned on during playback of the audio content,” says the patent (9,788,111), which is based on an application filed in March and names Roku Vice President Joe Hollinger and Principal Hardware Engineer Greg Garner as the inventors. Synching the operation of the cooling fan to the volume of the content “reduces audio interference, improves the user playback experience, and prevents overheating of the audio device which improves reliability and reduces audio device failure rate,” said the patent. An audio device “that is capable of playing a data stream encoded in various data formats may produce ambient noise during playback” because the device “may need to turn on a fan” to prevent overheating, it says. “This may be the case when the audio device is a small form factor device. This ambient noise may cause distortion in the playback of audio content.” Under the invention, the audio device “determines a volume level of the audio content using the data stream,” it said: The device “then controls a cooling device by comparing the volume level to a threshold value.” Roku representatives didn’t comment on plans to commercialize the invention.

International Trade Commission Administrative Law Judge David Shaw expects by Sept. 21 to recommend to the ITC his “initial determination” whether Hisense infringed Sharp’s smart TV patents as Sharp alleged in its Aug. 29 Tariff Act Section 337 complaint (see 1709050045), Shaw said in an order (login required) signed Wednesday and posted in docket 337-TA-1072. Shaw set a January 2019 target date for the ITC to complete its investigation. He plans an evidentiary hearing on Sharp’s allegations in mid-May.

Comments are due Oct. 12 at the International Trade Commission on public interest issues raised by Tessera Technologies’ Tariff Act Section 337 allegations that various Samsung mobile devices containing “wafer-level” packaged (WLP) semiconductors infringe two Tessera patents (see 1709290044), said a notice in Wednesday’s Federal Register. Tessera’s complaint (docket 337-3262) seeks exclusion and cease and desist orders against Samsung devices containing WLP-based power management chips, including the Galaxy 8 and Note8 smartphones. Samsung is “looking into” the Tessera complaint and “will take necessary measures accordingly," said the company in response (see 1710020033).

Samsung is “looking into” the Tessera Technologies complaint at the International Trade Commission alleging various Samsung mobile devices infringe two Tessera patents (see 1709290044), a Samsung spokesman said Monday. Samsung “will take necessary measures accordingly," said the spokesman. Tessera seeks exclusion and cease and desist orders at the ITC against Samsung devices containing “wafer-level” packaged semiconductors, including the “power management IC” chips used in the Galaxy 8 and Note8 smartphones.