Paul Gluckman

There’s a “danger of complacency” in the information and communications tech supply chain that the economic risks of the Russia-Ukraine conflict will stay confined to Europe, Stephen Minton, IDC program vice president-data and analytics, told an IDC “first look” webinar Thursday on the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on the global ICT market. Minton estimates $240 billion or more in global ICT spending could be “wiped out” from the war through 2025, and that’s assuming the most “optimistic scenario” of a diplomatic end to the hostilities within three months.

Roku went to court Wednesday to thwart “online counterfeiters” that allegedly trade upon its “reputation and goodwill” by selling products that infringe Roku’s trademarks. The defendants are dozens of “foreign entities” based mainly in China that are improperly marketing unauthorized and illegal products “either by reference to or embodying a mark that is identical or substantially identical” to Roku logos, causing “further confusion and deception in the marketplace,” said its complaint in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. The alleged culprits are identified in documents that Roku seeks to file under seal. “Defendants attempt to avoid liability by going to great lengths to conceal both their identities and the full scope and interworking of their illegal counterfeiting operation,” said the complaint. Roku “has been and continues to be irreparably damaged through consumer confusion, dilution, and tarnishment of its valuable trademarks and goodwill and, therefore, seeks injunctive and monetary relief,” it said. It also seeks an order compelling Amazon and any other enabling “online marketplace account provider” to stop “providing services for any accounts” through which the defendants engage in the sale of counterfeit products, it said. Amazon didn’t comment Thursday.

The “regulatory framework” for data protection, privacy and information security is “evolving rapidly,” said Vizio’s 10-K annual report Thursday at the SEC. The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) “prompted a number of proposals for federal and state privacy legislation,” it said. Virginia enacted the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (CDPA) March 2 and Colorado enacted the Colorado Privacy Act (CPA) July 7, “both of which are comprehensive privacy statutes that share similarities” with the CCPA and legislation proposed in other states, it said. “The CDPA and CPA will require us to incur additional costs and expenses in an effort to comply with these new laws before they become effective” Jan. 1, 2023, and July 1, 2023, respectively, it said. “The CDPA, CPA, and any other state or federal legislation that is passed, could increase our potential liability, add layers of complexity to compliance in the U.S. market, increase our compliance costs and adversely affect our business.” At least three states’ privacy bills appeared to fail last week as legislators struggled to reach agreement before their sessions ended (see 2203100062). Vizio settled with the FTC in 2017 over allegations the smart TV vendor collected viewing data on 11 million consumers without their consent or knowledge (see 1702080029). Vizio's "obligations" under the FTC settlement agreement remain in effect through 2037, said the 10-K.

Two weeks into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, “we don't know how this evolves going forward, and it's really too early to tell what the overall impact of this on our business will be,” Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal told a Morgan Stanley investment conference Thursday. “In this moment that reminds us why public conversation is important in the world,” said Agrawal: “It gives us this opportunity to showcase the value of Twitter to all of these people, but it also has us feel this immense responsibility.” Twitter has been “doing work proactively to be prepared for this moment” for years, he said. In 2019, it banned all ads from “state-affiliated media organizations,” and two years ago it started “labeling and de-amplifying all state-affiliated media entities,” he said: “We've been very, very transparent about any attempt that we've seen from state actors to manipulate the conversation on Twitter.” Former Chief Technology Officer Agrawal took over as Twitter CEO in November after Jack Dorsey abruptly left the company (see 2111290038).

Netflix has no plans to introduce an ad-supported tier as Disney+ intends to do this year in the U.S. (see 2203080004), Chief Financial Officer Spencer Neumann told a Morgan Stanley investment conference Tuesday. “It's not like we have religion against advertising,” said Neumann. “We think we have a great model in the subscription business." Netflix will “never say never” to an ad-supported tier, he said. “It's hard for us to kind of ignore that others are doing it, but it now doesn't make sense for us.” Netflix hopes mobile gaming will be "a big part of our business in a decade," but "it's not going to be a big part of our business in the next 12 months," said the CFO. Netflix went from "saying we wanted to get in the games business to launching a games business globally inside of 12 months and having it work on Android and iOS and around the world," he said.

Disney research found many consumers “are actually more favorably disposed to services with ads than without ads,” Chief Financial Officer Christine McCarthy told a Morgan Stanley investment conference Monday on the rationale for adding an ad-supported Disney+ tier later this year in the U.S. (see 2203040042). “We have also had an incredible amount of advertiser demand ever since the launch of Disney+,” she said.

It’s “no secret” that corporate awareness of cybersecurity is “high,” Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora told a Morgan Stanley investment conference Monday. “I can’t imagine five years ago, you’d be asking the CEO, how secure is your infrastructure? And are you worried about the risk of cyberattacks?” Arora thinks there's "more of a focus on getting security right than there ever was,” he said. “We’re woefully ill-prepared for what could happen to the technology infrastructure in this country and around the world.” The cybersecurity “debate” has evolved from “whether I could be hacked,” to “if I did get hacked, how am I going to get back up again?” he said.

The industry expects between 700 million and 750 million 5G phones to be produced this year, Qorvo CEO Bob Bruggeworth told a Raymond James investment conference Monday. The company supplies RF modules and other components for 5G handsets from Samsung and other OEMs. 5G is under 50% share of the smartphone market, “so we’ve still got a long way to go” before reaching 5G’s potential, he said. Qorvo sees an increase of about $5 to $7 in content per device whenever an OEM brings out a 5G phone, he said.

Lawyers on opposing sides of the July 2014 Audio Home Recording Act (AHRA) copyright case presided over by then-U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson in D.C. were effusive in their praise of Jackson's qualifications as President Joe Biden's nominee to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer (see Ref:2202280001]). Jackson "was presented with a case applying an arcane, little-used statute involving 1990s digital audio recording technology to modern in-vehicle infotainment systems,” emailed copyright attorney Seth Greenstein of Constantine Cannon. Yet she “mastered the intricacies of both the statute and the technology" in rendering a decision, he said Monday. Jackson's decisions in the case "were principled and clear, and unsurprisingly were affirmed unanimously by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals," said Greenstein. "I have every confidence she has the acumen and policy proficiency to succeed her former boss, Justice Breyer, as the Court’s thought leader on copyright, technology, and intellectual property.” Though Rick Dagen of Axinn Veltrop was lead AHRA attorney in a losing cause for the Alliance of Artists and Recording Companies, he thinks Jackson will be an "incredible" Supreme Court justice, he emailed Tuesday.

Every major change to expand audience measurement, including adding cable to broadcast in the 1990s and adding delayed DVR viewing in 2006, “has been met with resistance and headlines,” said Nielsen CEO David Kenny on a Q4 earnings call Monday. The current move to “reconcile” streaming and linear TV “is perhaps the biggest change in the history of media,” he said. “Friction can be expected, and we are seeing it.” Nielsen data showed streaming reached an all-time high in January, at 38% of viewing within the 18 to 54 age demographic, he said. Kenny admits “there is more noise on the traditional TV side as our clients adjust their business models from linear to streaming,” he said. “But privately, the conversations we have with clients and their contracts with us show that our business with them is much more productive than the noise suggests.”