Broadcast programming streaming service Locast will pay the plaintiff networks that sued it (see 1907310043) $32 million in statutory damages, under a proposed settlement (in Pacer, docket 19-cv-7136) filed Thursday with U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York. The settlement between Locast and plaintiffs including Disney, NBCUniversal Media, Fox Broadcasting, CBS and ABC means Locast operators David Goodfriend and the Sports Fan Coalition and its directors are permanently enjoined from operating Locast or a similar service. It would dismiss Goodfriend as a defendant. Gigi Sohn, who has been a Locast board member, was nominated this week by the White House to an open FCC commissioner seat. Asked about timing, Locast counsel didn't comment.

Music label plaintiffs are wrong when they argue the Supreme Court's Grokster decision standards don't apply in their litigation against Charter Communications (see 2108120002), Charter told U.S. District Court in Boulder Monday in its reply supporting its motion to dismiss the lawsuit (in Pacer, docket 21-cv-02020). Grokster said selling a service capable of unlawful use isn't contributory infringement unless there's evidence the defendant also promoted its use to infringe copyright. Charter said district courts in the 10th U.S. Circuit of Appeals jurisdiction routinely apply Grokster to contributory infringement claims, requiring allegations or proof of the defendant’s intent to cause infringement. Outside counsel for plaintiffs didn't comment Tuesday.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit approved moving Broadband iTV's patent litigation against Dish Network from a federal court in Texas to the U.S. District Court in Colorado. In a docket 21-182 order Thursday, Judges Kathleen O'Malley, Jimmie Reyna and Raymond Chen said the Federal Circuit rejected a previous Dish petition for writ of mandamus in August, denying the case's transfer because the appellate court was confident the lower court would reconsider its previous denial of such a transfer. The Federal Circuit said the lower court was wrong in subsequently denying the transfer again because Colorado "is the home of evidence, witnesses, and the conduct giving rise to the action." Dish didn't comment.

Lack of transparency on patent ownership is a threat to U.S. competitiveness and national security, said Senate Intellectual Property Subcommittee Chair Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., during a hearing Tuesday. Foreign companies can buy U.S. patents without the public knowing, said Leahy, who introduced legislation with ranking member Thom Tillis, R-N.C. The bill requires patent owners to record updated ownership information with the Patent and Trademark Office when a patent changes hands. Failure to record ownership information would mean entities aren’t allowed to recoup damages for IP ownership. China is an increasing threat on royalties involving 5G technology, laptops, connected cars and semiconductors, said Intel Senior Vice President Allon Stabinsky. He noted only one American company is on the list of top 10 patent holders. China has four, Europe has two and Japan one, he said: This has “profound implications” for American competitiveness, he said. The legislation proposes a reasonable and balanced remedy, said Engine IP Counsel Abby Rives: The patent owner can still seek reasonable royalties and lost profits but would give up the ability to push damages higher during the period the owner failed to disclose the required information.

The Filmmaker Mode certification mark was deployed commercially “at least as early” as July 2020 on compliant TVs marketed by UHD Alliance member companies, said the association's statement of use posted Thursday at the Patent and Trademark Office. The statement is one of the last procedural steps needed before PTO issues a trademark registration certificate. The agency requires the statement to prevent applicants from hoarding trademarks they have no intention of using commercially. Using the Filmmaker Mode certification mark “denotes implementation of universally accessible means to disable post-production processing from the relevant consumer goods so that the content is experienced by the end user as intended by the original filmmaker,” says the statement. Filmmaker Mode is activated via a button on the remote or automatically through metadata when the TV detects incoming movie content. Once activated, Filmmaker Mode turns off motion smoothing, sharpening, TV noise reduction and other image enhancement processing, says the statement. Overscanning is permitted “only if signaled with the image,” it says. The rendered picture must maintain a D65 “white point,” it says. Measured in Kelvin, a display's white point setting is the color temperature emitted by the backlight and shown on screen. Filmmaker Mode has the announced support of Hisense, Kaleidescape, LG, Panasonic, Samsung, TP Vision and Vizio. UHDA debuted Filmmaker Mode in August 2019 and applied for the trademark the previous May (see 1908270001).

Samsung Electronics and Samsung Semiconductor seek declaratory judgment that they don’t infringe, “directly or indirectly,” four Netlist patents on DRAM technology, said their complaint (in Pacer) Friday in U.S. District Court in Wilmington, Delaware. Netlist, “without justification,” unilaterally tried to terminate a November 2015 agreement in which it granted Samsung a “perpetual, paid-up, worldwide license” to the patents that Netlist now says Samsung is infringing, said the complaint. Samsung paid Netlist $8 million under the agreement, but Netlist “is now taking extraordinary actions to back out of its grant of a patent license to Samsung,” it said. Netlist told Samsung earlier this year of its demands that Samsung take a second license, said the complaint: “Accordingly, Netlist seeks to double-dip.” Netlist didn’t comment.

ViacomCBS and nonfungible token company Recur will partner to create a platform where individuals can buy, collect and trade NFTs as digital products and collectibles across the content company's portfolio of franchises and IP, said ViacomCBS Wednesday. It said the NFT platform will launch in spring.

Xperi announced an IP licensing agreement with Yangtze Memory Technologies for its DBI hybrid bonding technology, said Xperi Tuesday. Hybrid bonding 3D integration technology is increasingly being used in sensors, memory and logic semiconductors to enable enhanced functionality while reducing size and cost, Xperi said. In 3D NAND applications, DBI hybrid bonding technology enables the disaggregation of the memory array and logic circuitry allowing the optimal wafer process node to be used for each, it said.

DOJ’s Antitrust Division will bring enforcement actions when anticompetitive conduct by standard-essential patent holders or other players in the standards development process harms competition, Economics Director-Enforcement Jeffrey Wilder told a Global Competition Review summit Wednesday. But not every patent licensing dispute “invites an antitrust challenge,” said Wilder. Though antitrust claims are no “panacea for failed bilateral negotiation,” antitrust should play a role “when the standards-setting process is used to thwart competition and harm consumers,” he said. He vowed the division will promote policies “that encourage good-faith licensing negotiation” and give “clearer guidance” on how “bad-faith conduct can hinder competition.” It will support standards-development organizations adopting intellectual property rights policies “that address licensing inefficiencies and enable the dissemination of standardized products,” he said: The division will try to be “transparent” about its enforcement priorities and policy changes.

BlackBerry is making “significant progress” in negotiations to sell the portion of its patent portfolio involving mobile devices, messaging and wireless networking -- “areas of business that we are no longer actively involved with,” said CEO John Chen on a call Wednesday for fiscal Q2 ended Aug. 31. BlackBerry and the potential buyer reached preliminary agreement on “many of the key terms,” he said. “We expect to execute a definitive agreement this quarter.” Q2 licensing revenue was only $15 million because patent “monetization activities remain limited while negotiations for the potential sale continue,” said Chief Financial Officer Steve Rai. Neither he nor Chen identified the possible buyer. BlackBerry made the decision five years ago to exit handset development and manufacturing in favor of a royalty-bearing model that licenses the brand and intellectual property to other smartphone makers (see 1609280006). The stock closed 11% higher Thursday at $10.60.