Legislation updating copyright law have endorsement of major music publishing, songwriter and artists’ groups, the groups announced Monday. Resolving lack of a terrestrial performance right for sound recordings is a key goal for the groups, which pledge to work together as Congress starts work on updating copyright law. The groups said they back the recently introduced Music Modernization Act (HR-4706) (see 1712290025); the Compensating Legacy Artists for Their Songs, Service and Important Contributions to Society Act (HR-3301); the Allocation for Music Producers Act (HR-1457); and a market-based rate standard for artists from satellite radio. Participating groups include the National Music Publishers’ Association; RIAA; the American Association of Independent Music; the Recording Academy; the Nashville Songwriters Association International; Songwriters of North America; ASCAP; BMI.; the Production Music Association; the Church Music Publishers Association; the Music Publishers Association; the Council of Music Creators; the Society of Composers and Lyricists; MusicAnswers; the American Federation of Musicians; the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists; the Association of Independent Music Publishers; SoundExchange; SXWorks; Administrators of Gospel Music; the Content Creators Coalition; and Music Managers Forum U.S.

The International Trade Commission began a Tariff Act Section 337 probe of imported iPhones that don’t incorporate Qualcomm baseband processor modems, the ITC announced last week. Qualcomm's Nov. 30 complaint said Apple imports some iPhones that include its chips and others that instead incorporate infringing baseband processor modems. The ITC launched a similar investigation in August (see 1708080062), with the new investigation addressing different patents. Qualcomm alleged infringing devices include the iPhone 7, 7 Plus, 8, 8 Plus and iPhone X Limited. The ITC will consider whether to issue a limited exclusion order and cease and desist orders banning import and sale of infringing merchandise by Apple. That company didn't comment Friday.

BlackBerry hopes the partnership agreement it signed last month with Teletry will bring “more consistency” to its patent licensing program, plus “a broader reach” that will result in “higher IP revenue,” CEO John Chen said on a Wednesday earnings call. Under the agreement, Teletry “can sublicense a range of BlackBerry patents to the majority of the smartphone manufacturers worldwide,” Chen said. BlackBerry picked Teletry because of its “track record in licensing,” he said. BlackBerry retains ownership of its 40,000-patent “portfolio,” and will continue to operate its own licensing program, he said.

Amazon announced a workaround to not having access to Google Chrome and YouTube on the Echo Show and Fire TV (see 1712060058 and 1712200044). Amazon Fire TV users can now browse the web on TV via Fire TV using Firefox and Silk browsers, Amazon said Wednesday, listing Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, reddit and others. Amazon is “open to other browsers," a spokeswoman said. “We hope to resolve this with Google as soon as possible.” Google didn’t comment. On how Amazon ensures security via browsers, the spokeswoman said Fire TV doesn’t allow downloads. Silk and Firefox “both respect user privacy,” she said, and browsing history is kept “private and secure.” Neither stores personal identifiable information data, she said. Alexa controls some functions, but during playback, viewers use the Fire TV remote for play, pause, fast forward and rewind functions, said the spokeswoman.

Facebook’s twice-a-year transparency report now includes data on IP rights requests on copyright, trademark and counterfeit, blogged Deputy General Counsel Chris Sonderby. In the first half of 2017, it received 224,464 copyright reports about content, 41,854 trademark reports and 14,279 counterfeit reports, Sonderby said Monday. Government requests for account data increased by 21 percent globally compared with the second half of 2016, from 64,279 to 78,890, and more than half of requests from law enforcement contained a nondisclosure order preventing the company from notifying users about the information request, he said. Tuesday, the company expanded facial identity privacy opt out (see 1712190024).

Limit legal barriers preventing users from modifying or repairing software-enabled products, the Electronic Frontier Foundation commented to the librarian of Congress, while CTA renewed it and the Auto Care Association's call (see 1709150048) to allow additional lawful user circumvention for automotive fixes and upgrades, partly citing EFF. EFF is continuing a “years-long fight” to allow owners and creators more control over devices and products they own without threat of infringing on companies’ copyrights, said Legal Director Corynne McSherry Monday. EFF is seeking exemption from Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act for all modifications and repairs of software-enabled devices that don’t infringe copyrights, and to allow alterations to smart speakers and digital home assistants. The register of copyrights "acknowledged the real world inadequacy of having confined exemptions for circumvention only to self-help by vehicle owners," but CTA disagrees that "granting such an exemption would verge too close to approving 'trafficking.'"

Federal intellectual property enforcement prosecutors are working in five “critical” regions to counter illegal trade in counterfeit and pirated goods, DOJ announced Friday. DOJ and the State Department jointly manage the IP enforcement program, which was established in 2006, and now has on-the-ground prosecutors in Abuja, Nigeria; Bucharest, Romania; São Paulo, Brazil; Bangkok; and Hong Kong.

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted unanimously to approve Andrei Iancu as director of the Patent and Trademark Office Thursday. Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said Iancu is “extremely knowledgeable about the intellectual property field” and will be a “responsible leader” based on his experience with a wide array of IP issues. President Donald Trump nominated Iancu a few months ago (see 1709060017 or 1709060026).

​Amazon and Google patent applications “provide insight into the surveillance that is possible via smart home devices” like Amazon Echo and Google Home, with “troubling legal and ethical implications,” Consumer Watchdog reported Wednesday. CW conceded filing a patent application is no guarantee a company will commercialize inventions. It recalled that patent applications for the Google Glass and Amazon Kindle “seemed outlandish when they were filed,” until they resulted in “very real products for the applicants.” To "anticipate and meet consumers’ needs in new ways, digital assistants make increasingly invasive forays into users’ private lives. As users accept these intrusions, they give up their personal data, and with it, their privacy and security,” the study said. With the smaller-sized Echo Dot and Google Home Mini, Amazon and Google have “begun to foray beyond the living room and into the bedroom,” it said. “There, they can infer from your interactions with the device when you wake up -- and maybe even who you wake up with.” An Amazon patent application published Aug. 17 “describes using voice signatures and behavior to distinguish between members of a household,” said the report. “This could help Amazon determine whether to advertise birthday cake to your spouse or to your six-year-old.” A Google application published in October 2016 describes methods of speaker recognition through use of “neural networks." Google didn’t comment.

ATSC’s A/331 document on signaling, delivery, synchronization and error protection was approved Dec. 6 as a final 3.0 standard, said Monroe Electronics, which said the Advanced Emergency Alerting (AEA) specification “is based primarily on designs” it submitted. The document “specifies the technical mechanisms and procedures pertaining to service signaling and IP-based delivery of a variety of ATSC 3.0 services and contents to ATSC 3.0-capable receivers over broadcast, broadband and hybrid broadcast/broadband networks.” South Korea’s Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute contributed IP, as did Fraunhofer, LG, Qualcomm, Samsung, Sony and Technicolor. The AEA spec "is part of a non-proprietary standard," Ed Czarnecki, Monroe senior director-strategic and government affairs, told us Tuesday. "Our goal was to contribute an element in ATSC 3.0 that would enhance the overall value of next-gen TV.” AEA's messaging feature of A/331 will enable broadcasters “to leapfrog to IP-based, mobile, customizable, and media-rich emergency notifications to their audiences, with the potential for a range of first responder and public safety services,” said Czarnecki in a statement. It “will enable a vastly improved user experience for TV viewers when it comes to emergency alerts, whether they're watching through receivers on fixed screens, mobile phones, or portable devices such as tablets or vehicle-mounted displays,” said Monroe. Following FCC Nov. 16 authorization of 3.0 voluntary deployment, the goal of the Advanced Warning and Response Network Alliance is to have a "beta solution” on emergency alerting by early 2019 available for stations launching 3.0 broadcasts beginning in 2019 (see 1711200023).