Revenue lost to online TV and film piracy will hit $51.6 billion by 2022, up from an estimated $31.8 billion this year, Digital TV Research said Monday. But the gap between online piracy and legitimate online revenue such as over-the-top services is widening, it said, saying OTT revenue overtook piracy in 2013. It said the Asia-Pacific region is expected to surpass North America next year as the largest region for piracy.

The Copyright Office needs to be modernized to improve performance of administration functions, said a paper released Monday by Free State Foundation President Randolph May and Senior Fellow Seth Cooper. A restructuring, including making the office separate from the Library of Congress, would improve the agency's ability to upgrade copyright registration records and make other technology upgrades.

The Copyright Office intends to renew 14 exemptions previously granted for rules banning access to copyrighted works in an expedited procedure kicking off the office's seventh triennial review of Digital Millennium Copyright Act rules, said a notice in Thursday's Federal Register. The 14 exemptions (see 1709150048) weren't controversial, dealing with issues such as allowing visually impaired people to employ audio services to listen to a book, Copyright Alliance CEO Keith Kupferschmid told us. "This is the first time they’re using this approach," he said, saying it increases efficiency in the rulemaking process. CO is seeking comment on 23 petitions to renew existing exemptions in the NPRM that solicits three rounds of comments. Initial comments are due Dec. 18; response comments Feb. 12; replies March 14. Public hearings will be in Washington, D.C., April 9 and in California with a date and location to be determined.

Oral argument is scheduled for Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in the 3-year-old complaint by the Alliance of Artists and Recording Companies that the car infotainment systems marketed by Ford and General Motors violate the Audio Home Recording Act (AHRA) (see 1407310086). The automakers are asking U.S. District Judge Ketanji Jackson to grant them summary judgment in the case on grounds that their infotainment systems are not digital audio recording devices as defined in the AHRA.

With content companies seeking to enjoin VidAngel's streaming-based business model (see 1708240017), the company "requires the breathing space" that comes with an automatic stay under the Bankruptcy Code for the reorganization, Finance Director Patrick Reilly said in a docket 17-29073 U.S. Bankruptcy Court declaration (in Pacer) filed Wednesday as VidAngel filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The bankruptcy filing lists $535,000 worth of unsecured claims to various vendors.

Aqua Connect and subsidiary Strategic Technology Partners are seeking a limited exclusion order banning import of Apple computers and mobile devices, they said in a Tariff Act Section 337 complaint filed Oct. 10. The complaint said Mac computers running macOS 10.7 or above; iPhones, iPads and iPods running iOS 5 or above; and Apple TV products, second generation and above, copy Strategic Technology Partners’ patented screen-sharing technology. The companies asked the International Trade Commission to also issue a cease and desist order against Apple. Comments are due Oct. 25, the ITC said in Tuesday's Federal Register. Apple didn't comment.

Strong copyright protections should be included in the North American Free Trade Agreement, CreativeFuture said in a petition with "over 50,000 signatures." Creative communities can't afford the job losses that would result if NAFTA ends up with "weak provisions" on intellectual property, it said. The group worries that "the agenda of behemoth Silicon Valley companies" will erode copyright protections and undermine U.S. exports.

The complaint brought by the daughter of the late Brazilian artist​ Lygia Pape accusing LG of using her mother’s artwork to promote the launch of the K20 V smartphone without her permission (see 1706300034) was settled out of court, said a dismissal order (in Pacer) signed Thursday by U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn in Manhattan. Paula Pape repeatedly rejected LG’s requests to use her mother’s original artwork, but LG went ahead anyway and ran “a derivative image” created from the artwork in its consumer packaging, advertising and promotions for the K20 V, plus on the wallpaper of the actual device, said her June 29 complaint, which she later expanded to include AT&T, Cricket Wireless, MobilePCS, T-Mobile and Verizon as defendants. Settlement terms weren't disclosed. Representatives for LG and Pape didn’t comment Friday.

The copyright infringement and Digital Millennium Copyright Act violation complaints against streaming service VidAngel (see 1708110038) added Marvel, New Line and Turner as plaintiffs. An amended docket 16-cv-04109 complaint (in Pacer) filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles with the additional plaintiffs follows a stipulation (in Pacer) filed last month by original plaintiffs Disney, Lucasfilm, Fox and Warner Bros. asking to file the amended complaint with the additional plaintiffs. Separately, Judge Andre Birotte of Los Angeles on Thursday granted (in Pacer) the content companies $12,706 they sought in attorneys' fees for their response to a VidAngel motion that the court said was baseless and filed in bad faith. VidAngel General Counsel David Quinto told us the additional plaintiffs are all subsidiaries of the existing plaintiffs and were added in an attempt to multiply any damage claim against VidAngel and put it out of business. He also said he didn't understand the sanctions based on a single motion when VidAngel hadn't been engaged in a pattern of conduct, as is typically the case when such an award is made.

The U.S. should stay in the North American Free Trade Agreement, while focusing on strengthening the intellectual property provisions in the accord with Canada and Mexico, Free State Foundation President Randolph May blogged Friday. “Stronger IP rights protections will incentivize more innovation and investment in all three NAFTA member countries,” May wrote. “With $1.3 trillion in annual economy activity and 14 million jobs on the line in the United States, President [Donald] Trump should not be focusing on withdrawing from NAFTA but rather on updating the treaty.”