SAN FRANCISCO -- Observers are split on whether the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will side with the FTC or Qualcomm in a key tech antitrust decision expected in the coming months (see 2002130058). Qualcomm, Intel, Ericsson and Samsung didn’t comment Friday, after the previous day's oral argument. We interviewed experts following oral argument.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Observers are split on whether the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will side with the FTC or Qualcomm in a key tech antitrust decision expected in the coming months (see 2002130058). Qualcomm, Intel, Ericsson and Samsung didn’t comment Friday, after the previous day's oral argument. We interviewed experts following oral argument.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Observers are split on whether the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will side with the FTC or Qualcomm in a key tech antitrust decision expected in the coming months (see 2002130058). Qualcomm, Intel, Ericsson and Samsung didn’t comment Friday, after the previous day's oral argument. We interviewed experts following oral argument.

CTA’s application to register NEXTGEN TV as a certification mark for ATSC 3.0-compliant consumer goods (see 1909190066) is scheduled for Feb. 25 Trademark Official Gazette publication, a Patent and Trademark Office status page shows. Opposition parties would have 30 days from that date to try to block the registration. A notice of allowance (NOA) would follow if the application clears the opposition period, giving CTA six months to file a statement of use (SOU), one of the last stages before the logo would proceed to a registration certificate. CTA, when it files the SOU, will provide “a copy of the standards governing the use of the certification mark” on 3.0-compliant goods that “have been evaluated to meet certain use and performance” metrics, said the association's Sept. 25 application. A “potential bar” in PTO’s approval of the NEXTGEN TV logo was lifted this month when Sharp let lapse at the Jan. 4 deadline for filing its SOU on a NXT-GEN consumer TV trademark and logo it applied for in December 2018 (see 2001140030). The application had progressed to the NOA stage in June, but PTO declared it dead Jan. 6. “With the pause in our efforts to re-enter the US consumer TV market,” Sharp was “not able to show usage on a product in the time period required to continue the trademark application so we had to give it up,” emailed Sharp Home Electronics President Jim Sanduski.

CTA’s application to register NEXTGEN TV as a certification mark for ATSC 3.0-compliant consumer goods (see 1909190066) is scheduled for Feb. 25 Trademark Official Gazette publication, a Patent and Trademark Office status page shows. Opposition parties would have 30 days from that date to try to block the registration. A notice of allowance (NOA) would follow if the application clears the opposition period, giving CTA six months to file a statement of use (SOU), one of the last stages before the logo would proceed to a registration certificate. CTA, when it files the SOU, will provide “a copy of the standards governing the use of the certification mark” on 3.0-compliant goods that “have been evaluated to meet certain use and performance” metrics, said the association's Sept. 25 application. A “potential bar” in PTO’s approval of the NEXTGEN TV logo was lifted this month when Sharp let lapse at the Jan. 4 deadline for filing its SOU on a NXT-GEN consumer TV trademark and logo it applied for in December 2018 (see 2001140030). The application had progressed to the NOA stage in June, but PTO declared it dead Jan. 6. “With the pause in our efforts to re-enter the US consumer TV market,” Sharp was “not able to show usage on a product in the time period required to continue the trademark application so we had to give it up,” emailed Sharp Home Electronics President Jim Sanduski.

A year after launching its first active noise-canceling headphone at CES 2019, Sol Republic announced Tuesday it’s finally shipping the over-ear Soundtrack Pro ANC. “It took refinement and precision to bring that vision to life," said Josh Poulsen, director-product management. The $199 cans, with a foldable design, feature 40mm drivers; 32-hour battery life with and without noise cancellation; four buttons for control of volume, answer/end calls, and pause-skip; and an auxiliary cable for wired listening. Its digital hybrid ANC technology uses a four-mic system to intercept ambient noise while preserving audio quality, said the company. Users can enter monitor mode to pause music and ANC for a quick conversation without having to remove the headphones. USB-C quick charge technology is said to provide three hours’ listening from a 15-minute recharge. The Pro has a leather-wrapped foam ear cushion for a more comfortable fit and “sleeker look” than the entry-level Soundtrack headphones. The Soundtrack ($169) wireless model has 42-hour battery life, similar controls and design, and 4.5-hour operation from a 15-minute USB-C quick charge, said the company.

While the phase one deal is a welcome pause in trade war hostilities between China and the U.S., the president of the Asia Society Policy Institute said a conclusion to phase two -- which presumably would lift Section 301 tariffs -- won't come this year. The think tank's president, Kevin Rudd, who also is a former prime minister of Australia, said at a program Jan. 28, “I think the best way to look at the phase one deal is that it's a ceasefire. I wouldn't go beyond that, to be honest.” He added, “I don't think it's in either side's political interest to see phase two conclude or fail on this side of a presidential election.”

CTA’s application to register NEXTGEN TV as a certification mark for ATSC 3.0-compliant consumer goods (see 1909190066) is scheduled for Feb. 25 Trademark Official Gazette publication, a Patent and Trademark Office status page shows. Opposition parties would have 30 days from publication date to try to block the registration from going forward, if they wish.

Comcast and Cox Communications are fighting a Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Cable request that the FCC delay considering the cable operators' effective competition petitions in the state (see 2001140050). Comcast posted a motion for abeyance that a pause would constrain its ability to compete and saddle it with administrative costs competitors don't bear, Wednesday in docket 19-385. Cox's docket 20-10 opposition took issue with MDTC not seeking FCC reconsideration of the agency's Charter Communications effective competition order (see 1910250036) and then appealing the Charter order with the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (see 1912230063) after Cox submitted its petition. That "impose[d] substantial and unjustifiable harm" on it, Cox said. MDTC didn't comment.

LAS VEGAS -- A lot has changed for DTS since its early 1990s startup days as a multichannel audio company serving up content and playback gear for cinemas and home theaters, Jon Kirchner, CEO of DTS parent Xperi, told us on a CES booth tour. “For a long time, DTS and Dolby were, more or less, exactly in the same bucket,” referring to surround-sound technologies sold in many of the same markets.