The Internet Association warned the FCC it's destined for a court fight if the agency reverses 2015 net neutrality rules, as a related hearing may be delayed. With replies due Wednesday in docket 17-108, the FCC reached the final stage on its NPRM, before approval of rules most observers believe will be ready by year-end. The agency offered extra time to write comments, but industry lawyers told us they don’t expect many surprises, though staff still face a big job processing everything that was filed.
Court of International Trade activity
Sens. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Chris Coons, D-Del., introduced, as expected, the International Communications Privacy Act (ICPA) that would clarify rules for U.S. law enforcement access to electronic communications in other countries, said a joint news release Tuesday (see 1707280020). They highlighted Microsoft's legal fight with DOJ over whether U.S. warrants apply abroad in a case that the Supreme Court might consider (see 1706260057). Major tech companies and trade groups including Apple, AT&T, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and TechNet said they support ICPA.
ICANN's status as a California nonprofit headquartered in the U.S. has raised hackles for years, and now a working group is exploring if location affects accountability and policies. In February, the Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability's jurisdiction subgroup sought input. It received about 20 responses, most citing no difficulties, and posted a list of proposed issues for the subgroup to consider. Two key concerns are whether U.S. foreign policy hampers ICANN from approving registries and accrediting registrars, and what impact jurisdiction has on delegation of country code top-level domain names (ccTLDs).
The notice of inquiry on the FCC's July agenda on creating a database of reassigned phone numbers (see 1706220050) comes as the FCC awaits a U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruling on ACA International v. FCC that could put the agency's reassigned numbers rules back in its lap anyway, experts said. The FCC may anticipate that the ACA challenge of the agency's 2015 Telephone Consumer Protection Act declaratory ruling (see 1507200058) could go against the agency, with it knowing it still needs to address the problem of legitimate telemarketers with consent to call ending up with TCPA violations for calling numbers that since have been reassigned, said a lawyer with telemarketing and TCPA experience.
EU government officials have raised concerns about U.S. oversight mechanisms and surveillance efforts for Privacy Shield, but a European Commission official told us Thursday the upcoming first review should go well if all aspects are addressed "seriously" and "meaningfully." Bruno Gencarelli, head of European Commission's Data Protection Unit, said after a session at the International Association of Privacy Professionals conference in Washington that everyone understands certain offices may not be filled for a certain period during a U.S. presidential transition, but what's important is that "those functions are exercised."
LG Electronics filed a Tariff Act Section 337 complaint seeking a ban on imports of LTE wireless communication devices imported by BLU Products. LG said BLU’s Dash, Energy, Life, Neo, Pure, Speed, Studio, Vivo, Win and R1 HD mobile phone products infringe its patents, and are imported by CT Miami, a company related to BLU, on BLU’s behalf. As technologies essential to the LTE communication standard, LG committed to license use of the patents on fair terms, but BLU didn't respond to LG attempts to negotiate a fair and reasonable licensing deal, LG said. LG seeks a limited exclusion order and cease and desist orders banning import and sale of infringing LTE mobile devices by BLU. The International Trade Commission is seeking comment by April 10, it said in Friday's Federal Register. LG also is pursuing BLU in court (see 1703270059). BLU didn't comment Friday.
Mobile phone supplier BLU Products sells LTE devices in the U.S. and around the world that violate LG Electronics patents, LG alleged Monday in a motion (in Pacer) in U.S. District Court in Wilmington, Delaware, for permission to file a complaint under seal. LG for about a year has “repeatedly contacted” BLU to offer to license the phone supplier its “portfolio of standards-essential patents” on “fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms,” said the motion. Portions of the complaint refer to confidential letters and a nondisclosure agreement LG sent BLU that are “not available through a public source,” said the motion. LG “would be harmed if this information became widely known,” it said. The squabble involves five patents "that have been declared as essential to the LTE standard," LG said in a Monday statement announcing the filing of an identical complaint against BLU at the International Trade Commission. "These are the first complaints LG has filed against another phone manufacturer," the company said. They were filed "because BLU, the largest seller of unlocked smartphones in the United States, has ignored all of LG's attempts to discuss a license to LG's intellectual property," it said. "LG is determined to enforce its intellectual property rights." BLU representatives didn’t comment Monday.
LG, Vizio and four other companies were charged Tuesday in a series of federal complaints with infringing at least one of four Broadcom patents on video encoding and decoding, graphics processing and DVR functionality. The complaints (in Pacer) filed in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, California, also named Funai, MStar Semiconductor, MediaTek and Sigma Designs as defendants. The complaints against the TV brands and chipmakers all seek injunctions barring U.S. imports of the infringing products, plus damages “in an amount no less than a reasonable royalty for each asserted patent.” Broadcom also filed patent infringement complaints against the six companies at the International Trade Commission. LG spokesman John Taylor declined comment Wednesday. Representatives of the other five companies didn’t respond to emails.
Qualcomm is likely to still face multiple tough legal challenges to the company’s licensing of its patents for baseband processors used in cellphones and other products, even if a new forthcoming Republican majority FTC chooses to reverse course on its antitrust complaint, said industry and public interest lawyers in interviews. The FTC claimed in a complaint filed this month that Qualcomm “engaged in exclusionary conduct that taxes its competitors' baseband processor sales, reduces competitors' ability and incentive to innovate, and raises prices paid by consumers for cell phones and tablets” (see 1701170065). Apple filed a lawsuit last Monday seeking $1 billion in damages on claims Qualcomm overcharged the smartphone manufacturer “billions of dollars” for patent licenses (see 1701230067).
This is unlikely to be the year for broad legislation on revamping U.S. patent law, but the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump is likely to be friendly to patent owners, tech lobbyists said Tuesday during an American Enterprise Institute event. Patent revamp legislation factored into the House and Senate Judiciary committees’ work in the past two Congresses but repeatedly stalled. The issue is expected to emerge again at the committee level in the 115th Congress (see 1610190047).