The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit asked corrective orthodontic device manufacturer ClearCorrect to submit a response to the International Trade Commission's petition (see 1601270053) for rehearing en banc in the company's ongoing legal battle with the ITC. In a letter posted Friday in the docket for the court case, the Federal Circuit invited ClearCorrect and any amici curiae parties to file responses to the request for rehearing en banc by Feb. 11. A three-judge panel of the Federal Circuit ruled 2-1 in favor of ClearCorrect in a case involving questions of the ITC's ability to block the flow of patent-infringing data (see 1511100047).

The Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) urged Congress to “carefully consider -- and implement” the Internet Policy Task Force’s recommendations for amending U.S. copyright law on statutory damages to address issues that may result in excessive awards. The IPTF included the legislative recommendations in a white paper that also recommended nonlegislative solutions on the first-sale doctrine and the eligibility of remixes to claim fair use protections (see 1601280065). The IPTF recommended amending Copyright Act Section 504 to require courts and juries to consider nine factors when determining statutory damages awards, including whether the infringement was willful. Requiring consideration of those factors “would bring statutory damages in copyright cases closer in line with the goals of compensating the rightsholder and deterring future infringement without deterring legitimate activity or resulting in damage awards so beyond the pale that they undermine respect for our copyright system,” said CDT Open Internet Project Director Erik Stallman in a Friday blog post. The IPTF also recommended allowing courts more discretion to depart from the “per work” calculus in awarding damages in cases of nonwillful secondary liability by online services for large numbers of infringed works, and urging expanding eligibility for lowered “innocent infringement” damages awards. The recommendations make “abundant sense,” Stallman said. “These proposals will go a long ways toward a statutory damages regime that still achieves goals of compensation and deterrence, without overly encouraging 'copyright trolling' or unduly interfering with legitimate innovation and free expression.”

Q1 revenue in Qualcomm’s QTL technology licensing business was higher than expected “and would have been even higher if not for a contract dispute with LG” that prompted QTL to defer revenue of more than $100 million for the quarter, Qualcomm President Derek Aberle said Wednesday on an earnings call. “Although LG continues to report and pay, we're not recognizing revenue while the arbitration regarding the dispute proceeds,” Aberle said. “We believe LG's claims are without merit. The deferral of this revenue has the effect of depressing the implied royalty rate as you would calculate it, as their shipments are included in total reported device sales without the corresponding revenue. Assuming we conclude this matter successfully, as we have done with others in the past, we would expect to recognize the deferred revenues at that time.” LG representatives didn’t comment Thursday.

In a case involving electronic transfer of protected information, the International Trade Commission filed a petition Wednesday for rehearing en banc with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit of its case against corrective orthodontic device manufacturer ClearCorrect. The initial deadline for a rehearing petition was moved from December to late January upon request from ITC Attorney Sidney Rosenzweig (see 1512090014). In November, a three-judge panel of the Federal Circuit ruled 2-1 in favor of ClearCorrect, saying the ITC doesn't have the jurisdiction to block the international electronic transfer of patent-infringing data. The court's decision overturned an initial ITC decision prohibiting ClearCorrect's affiliate in Pakistan from transmitting digital molds of patients' teeth to the company's headquarters in Houston, due to the alleged infringement on patents held by competitor Align Technology. ClearCorrect attorney Michael Myers told us after the Federal Circuit's ruling that he "wouldn't be surprised" if the case were eventually heard en banc (see 1511100047). In its petition, the commission argued the appeal "presents a precedent-setting question of exceptional importance" -- meaning whether the ITC's abilities to block the importation of infringing products applies only to physical products, or to digital information as well. The agency also said the three-judge panel "erred" in its decision that the world "articles" in the commission's congressionally mandated responsibilities means only material items.

Western Digital bought more than 100 “patent assets” from IBM in the areas of distributed storage, object storage and emerging nonvolatile memory, the companies said Monday in a joint announcement. The companies also agreed to cross-license each other’s patents, they said. Terms of the acquisition and cross-licensing deals weren't disclosed.

SoundExchange sent notices of intent to the Copyright Royalty Board to audit a range of 2012, 2013 and 2014 royalty statements, the CRB said in Friday’s Federal Register. DMX and Muzak face planned audits of their 2012-2014 business establishment services royalty statements and commercial webcaster royalty statements, CRB said. Batanga also faces an audit of its 2012-14 commercial webcaster royalty statements. DMX faces an audit of its new subscription service royalty statements, and Muzak an audit of its pre-existing subscription service royalty statements, CRB said. Four broadcasters -- Beasley Broadcast Group, Greater Media, Townsquare Media and Univision Communications -- face audits of their 2012-14 broadcaster royalty statements, and Saga Communications audits of its 2013 and 2014 royalty statements in the same category, CRB said. SoundExchange has the right to do a single audit of each licensee for a calendar year to verify royalty payments, the CRB said.

Netflix plans to begin blocking virtual private network proxy servers in the next few weeks from accessing the company’s systems. It said Thursday that the VPN blocking signals its willingness to “continue to respect and enforce” geography-based content licensing. “We are making progress in licensing content across the world and, as of last week, now offer the Netflix service in 190 countries, but we have a ways to go before we can offer people the same films and TV series everywhere,” said Vice President-Content Delivery Architecture David Fullagar in a blog post. “Over time, we anticipate being able to do so.” Netflix’s announcement came days after CEO Reed Hastings effectively endorsed consumers’ sharing of their Netflix account information as a “positive thing” during CES.

The Copyright Office and George Mason University School of Law's Arts Entertainment Advocacy Clinic formed an academic partnership, the school said Friday in a news release. Arts and Entertainment Clinic law students are collaborating with the CO to examine how changes in distribution technology and other permission may affect authors' moral rights, GMU Law said. Students are working with the CO to field public inquiries on registration, recordation and other copyright issues, the school said. The CO and GMU Law also plan a joint symposium this spring, GMU Law said. “The partnership between the clinic students and the Copyright Office will both serve the needs of the Office and give students experience they will need to practice in this area of law,” Arts and Entertainment Advocacy Center Director Sandra Aistars said in the news release. “Students will have an unprecedented view into how the Office administers copyright law for the benefit of authors and users of works.”

Ericsson and Huawei agreed to extend their global patent cross-licensing pact, Ericsson said in a news release Thursday. The arrangement includes a cross license covering patents on both companies' wireless standard-essential patents, including LTE standards. Under the extended agreement, both companies may "access and implement" each other's standard essential patents and technologies globally, said Ericsson. Huawei will make "on-going" royalty payments contingent upon sales to Ericsson "from 2016 and onwards," said the release.

The Patent and Trademark Office is hosting a half-day meeting for those seeking patent protection in the cybersecurity field, the PTO said in a news release Wednesday. The "collaborative forum" is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. on Feb. 10 at the PTO's San Jose office at 26 S. 4th St., and will give attendees a chance to "share ideas, experiences, and insights" with PTO's staff, the release said. Speakers include John Cabeca, Silicon Valley PTO director, and Aaron Smith, Symantec senior corporate counsel. Potential discussion topics include computer security patent application statistics and trends, enhanced patent quality initiatives and interim guidance on patent subject matter eligibility, PTO said.