The International Trade Commission last week began a Tariff Act Section 337 investigation into allegations that imports of integrated circuits with voltage regulators made by Intel and incorporated into products from Dell, HP Inc. and Hewlett Packard Enterprise infringe patents held by R2 Semiconductor, the ITC said. In a complaint filed Sept. 12, R2 said Intel’s microprocessors with Fully Integrated Voltage Regulator voltage spike protection copy its patented technologies and are being manufactured and imported without a license. The ITC will decide whether to issue a limited exclusion order and cease and desist orders banning import and sale of infringing microprocessors, plus downstream products that include them. Dell, HP, HP Enterprise and Intel didn't comment Monday.

Yahoo wants billboards and other public advertising to be “smart.” In patent application 14/675,004 filed at the Patent and Trademark Office Oct. 6, based on a March 2015 filing, Yahoo said it’s looking at ways to pull data from consumers’ devices to make messaging more efficient. The patent describes ways that advertising channels in public spaces can be configured to deliver “adaptive and targeted advertising in real time.” It refers to “sensor data” collected from user devices employed to monitor consumer engagement with ads. Unlike online advertising that’s personalized to individual users, the patent covers what Yahoo calls "grouplization," where advertising content is chosen based on an “aggregate representation” of the target audience that’s derived from real-time information. A billboard could be equipped with digital cameras that capture images or video of vehicles approaching the billboard. Using image recognition, information about the makes and models of the vehicles on the road could be used “to further inform the selection of advertisements” based on demographic characteristics. Sensor data could include “keywords spoken” by consumers near the billboard, the speed of the vehicle they’re traveling in or video data indicating whether any individuals looked directly at the advertising content using image recognition or eye-tracking techniques. Where an advertising display includes a touch screen, direct user interaction could be measured. Advertisers could compete for placement through bids based on aggregate audience profiles. Ad content intended for a digital billboard “might need to comply with traffic safety regulations that prohibit video content from being displayed,” it said.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation said it supports liquid sweetener company Heartland Food Products Group's petition to the Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari seeking a review of 28 U.S.C. Section 1400(b), which requires a plaintiff to bring a patent infringement lawsuit only in a U.S. District Court where the defendant resides or where the defendant has an “established place of business.” Heartland is seeking a high court review of an April Federal Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in Heartland v. Kraft Foods Group Brands against Heartland's push for stronger limits on patent suit venues. The Federal Circuit since 1990 has said Section 1400 “means that companies that sold products nationwide can be sued in any federal court in the country on charges of patent infringement, regardless of how tenuous the connection to that court,” said EFF Staff Attorney Vera Ranieri in a Thursday blog post. Ranieri said the FTC report on its study of the business practices of patent assertion entities found 53 percent of lawsuits by entities in the study occurred in the U.S. District Court based out of Tyler, Texas (see 1610060045). Unbridled venue rules have “led to a remarkable situation of forum shopping in patent cases,” EFF and Public Knowledge said in a joint amicus brief. “Even more remarkably, evidence suggests that this arrangement may be drawing courts into competition to attract patent owners -- the ones with unilateral choice over forum -- by adopting practices and procedures favorable to patent owners.” Forum shopping “has tangible, substantive effects on outcomes, a result contrary to principles of law and contrary to the very existence of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, an institution designed to eliminate a perceived problem with forum shopping for favorable substantive patent law,” EFF and PK said. HP, Oracle and 30 other companies also are jointly backing Heartland's petition to the Supreme Court.

The Gospel stage play Scissors shares no substantial similarities with the Barbershop movie franchise and the Showtime TV series based on it, said WB Studio Enterprises, MGM Studios and Showtime Networks in a motion to dismiss (in Pacer) filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. Scissors revolves around issues of faith and modern societal issues, but "Barbershop, in stark contrast, has nothing to do with religion at all and it does not address any of the issues threading each of Scissors' plotlines," WB and the others said. Plaintiff playwright Ronald Dickerson "cannot claim an exclusive monopoly on creative works set in a barbershop," they said, saying minus that setting the only remaining similarities are stock plot devices and character elements, which themselves don't warrant protection under copyright law. Dickerson, in his copyright infringement complaint (in Pacer) filed earlier this year, said the films contained numerous instances that "seem to be lifted directly from events in Scissors" and sought $20 million in damages.

Needham Insights said the music industry’s future is at risk, though streaming services like Pandora and Spotify “have saved the music business from extinction.” Recorded music revenue stayed “essentially flat” at an annual $15 billion globally since 2010, with streaming services now growing substantially as a share of the market while retail sales continue to shrink, Needham said in a report Monday. Pandora and Spotify are continuing to operate at a loss, so “until their financial futures are secure, a meaningful proportion of music industry revenue is dependent on public and private investors’ willingness to continue to fund their losses,” Needham said. “Any 'Black Swan' event (like 9/11) that closes capital market access could disrupt the entire music industry virtually overnight.” Black Swan theory events are “unexpected events of large magnitude and consequence and their dominant role in history,” Needham said.

The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against an appeal of a 2015 U.S. District Court ruling in New York that dismissed author Cheryl Smith’s copyright infringement lawsuit against Barnes & Noble. Smith claimed B&N continued to allow its users to download an online sample of the e-book The Hardscrabble Zone, written by her late husband, Louis K. Smith, after he terminated a contract with third-party firm Smashwords to advertise the e-book on B&N. One of the retailer’s users was able to download the e-book sample to a mobile device via B&N’s “digital locker” cloud storage system even though the retailer already had deleted the sample from its website. District Judge Andrew Carter said B&N wasn’t liable for contributory copyright infringement because the digital locker system was widely used for legitimate purposes. Circuit Judge Dennis Jacobs, in opinion Thursday for the three-judge 2nd Circuit panel, said “the conduct at issue was authorized by the relevant contracts between the parties.” There was no dispute in the case “that the plaintiff has a valid copyright, but the plaintiff must also be able to demonstrate that the copying was unauthorized,” the 2nd Circuit said. “Where, as here, the existence of the license is undisputed, and the only contested issue is its scope, the copyright owner bears the burden of proving that the defendant’s conduct was unauthorized under the license.” Once the customer acquired the cloud-based sample, “the service that Barnes & Noble provided was no longer distribution; the service provided was access,” the 2nd Circuit said. “Because the agreement does not provide for the license in the sample to terminate after the sample has been distributed, the plaintiff cannot sustain her burden to prove that providing cloud-based access to validly obtained samples is beyond the scope of the license agreement.” Judges Amalya Kearse and Ralph Winter joined Jacobs in affirming the New York district court ruling. Smith lawyer Carlos Leyva didn't comment.

CTA President Gary Shapiro lauded the FTC report on the business activities of patent assertion entities. The report said "litigation” PAEs are responsible for 96 percent of all patent infringement lawsuits brought by entities included in the review. Patent royalties generated by litigation PAEs' licensing agreements were generally less than the threshold for patent litigation costs, which showed those entities’ suits qualify as “nuisance” lawsuits, the FTC said. The agency made several recommendations to balance the rights of defendants during the early stages of patent suits brought by PAEs (see 1610060045). The FTC report shows “how sleazy” PAEs “operate,” Shapiro said in a statement. “We are pleased that the FTC report calls for many of the critical reforms for which CTA is advocating, including heightened pleading standards and discovery reforms that would make these illegitimate troll cases more transparent and help victims fight back. Moreover, the findings from this report underscore the need to pass legislation … to preserve our nation's entrepreneurial spirit and grow our innovation economy.” The Computer & Communications Industry Association and Internet Association were among those who praised the report.

The Society of European Stage Authors and Composers said Wednesday it reached agreement in principle with the Television Music License Committee on terms for commercial TV stations’ performance rights licenses for 2016-2019. SESAC and TVMLC signed a term sheet on the agreement and are negotiating a final definitive agreement, SESAC said. The pact “will allow both parties to avoid the time and additional costs associated with an arbitration, and ... will allow SESAC to continue to focus on providing the best service possible for our affiliated writers, composers and publishers,” said SESAC CEO John Josephson in a news release. “We have avoided the costs and uncertainties of an arbitration, and look forward to continuing a productive relationship with SESAC in the years to come,” said TVMLC Chairman Charles Sennet.

The International Trade Commission began a formal Tariff Act Section 337 enforcement investigation into allegations that Arista continues to import network switches that infringe Cisco’s patents, despite a limited exclusion order and cease and desist orders in place since June 23 (see 1606300029), the ITC said in Tuesday's Federal Register. In a complaint filed in August, Cisco acknowledged Arista says it modified its switches so they no longer violate Section 337 but said Arista never obtained permission from the ITC to continue to import them. The switches still copy Cisco’s patented designs, Cisco said, asking that the ITC enforce the existing exclusion and cease and desist orders, modify them to better cover Arista's products, and impose monetary penalties on Arista while the alleged violations continue. Arista didn't comment.

FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez is set to speak Thursday on the agency’s recent work on IP antitrust issues, the Computer & Communications Industry Association said Monday. The FTC is in the midst of a multiyear study on the business practices of patent assertion entities and is updating its joint guidelines with the DOJ for enforcing antitrust policy on IP licensing (see 1608120045 and 1609280063). Ramirez will speak during a joint CCIA-American Antitrust Institute event at the National Press Club. The lunch event is to begin at 12:30 p.m., CCIA said.