BlackBerry’s sale of its “legacy” patent portfolio for $600 million (see 2201310001) remains on hold as buyer Catapult IP Innovations works on securing the financing, said CEO John Chen on an earnings call Thursday for its fiscal Q1 ended May 31. Because the sale has taken longer than expected, BlackBerry is “no longer under exclusivity” with Catapult, and “we are free to explore new options as they come our way,” he said. “We will provide more details as and when appropriate.” Under terms of the Catapult deal, BlackBerry will get back a license to the patents being sold, which mainly involve mobile devices, messaging, wireless networking and other businesses in which BlackBerry is no longer actively involved. “We are being approached by others” seeking to buy the legacy patents, said Chen. “I am not actively looking” for buyers “or starting from square one,” he said. “I want to make sure that the shareholder knows that we are not just stuck with one option,” he said. “We do expect to see, and we would like to see, the previously announced deal with Catapult” progress to completion, he said. “We have been getting calls, and we are now responding to the calls because now the exclusivity has expired.”

Comments are due July 5 in docket 337-3625 at the International Trade Commission on the public interest ramifications of the Trade Act Section 337 import ban Maxell seeks on Lenovo and Motorola smartphones for allegedly infringing six mobile communications and imaging patents, said a notice for Friday’s Federal Register. Banning the Lenovo and Motorola devices doesn't "implicate public health, safety, or welfare concerns,” said Maxell’s June 16 complaint.

Former University of Arkansas professor Simon Saw-Teong Ang was sentenced to 12 months and a day in federal prison for lying to the FBI about the existence of patents for his inventions in China, said DOJ Thursday. Ang filed 24 patents in China that bear his name, it said. The school requires their faculty to declare all inventions, but Ang didn't disclose the patents, and subsequently lied about them when interviewed by the FBI. Ang was ordered to serve a year of supervised release after his sentence is complete..

Good cause exists for the International Trade Commission to grant Dish Network’s unopposed motion for a two-week deadline extension to June 29 to move to limit or quash the June 3 subpoenas served on it by Broadband iTV, Dish said in a Wednesday filing in docket 337-TA-1315. The ITC opened a Tariff Act Section 337 investigation into BBiTV allegations that cable set-tops from Comcast, Charter and Altice infringe four VOD and electronic program guide patents (see 2204280027). The extension will give BBiTV and Dish additional time “to engage in discussions in an attempt to resolve any disputes relating to the scope of the subpoenas,” said Dish.

Withdrawal of a 2019 policy statement on remedies for standard-essential patents subject to fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory (FRAND) commitment terms is the “best course of action for promoting both competition and innovation in the standards ecosystem,” DOJ said Wednesday in a joint statement with the Patent and Trademark Office and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Agencies made the determination after requesting public comment, following a July executive order for promoting competition. DOJ Antitrust Division Chief Jonathan Kanter said in a statement: “I am hopeful our case-by-case approach will encourage good-faith efforts to reach F/RAND licenses and create consistency for antitrust enforcement policy so that competition may flourish in this important sector of the U.S. economy.”

The International Trade Commission vote was 5-0 to open a Tariff Act Section 337 investigation into Advanced Micro Devices allegations that TCL smart TVs and Realtek graphics processing unit chips infringe five AMD patents on GPU circuitry architecture (see 2206060040), says a voting sheet posted Tuesday in docket 337-TA-1318. The investigation names Realtek and 13 TCL subsidiaries in China, Hong Kong, Mexico and Vietnam as respondents.

Eleven patent owners comprise the initial roster of licensors in the Open RAN Patent Portfolio License announced Monday by Alium, the joint venture between MPEG LA and the Unified Patents anti-patent troll consortium. Alium bills the initiative as the first patent pool “to address licensing uncertainty” in the open radio access network “infrastructure space.” Open radio access network “is a groundbreaking technology ready to blossom and grow with the availability of a pool license offering affordable access, freedom to operate, reduced litigation risk and business certainty for suppliers and users,” said Alium Manager Larry Horn, who also is MPEG LA CEO. He predicted the Alium pool license “will help speed 5G adoption and the delivery of 5G services to the public.” Royalty rates for the one-stop patent pool begin at 25 cents per “radio unit” in quantities up to 10,000, dropping to 10 cents a unit for volumes exceeding 200,000. Initial licensors are Acer, AT&T, CableLabs, Comcast, Godo Kaisha, Meta Platforms, Mitsubishi, Pantech, Philips, SK Telecom and Verizon.

The International Trade Commission voted to open a Tariff Act Section 337 investigation into allegations in a May 5 Advanced Micro Devices complaint that TCL smart TVs and Realtek graphics processing unit chips infringe five AMD patents on GPU circuitry architecture (see 2205110044), says a notice for Tuesday’s Federal Register. The investigation names Realtek and 13 TCL subsidiaries in China, Hong Kong, Mexico and Vietnam as respondents. AMD's complaint seeks limited exclusion and cease and desist orders against the allegedly infringing products. Realtek and TCL didn’t comment. Chief Administrative Law Judge Clark Cheney assigned himself to preside over the investigation, says a notice in ITC docket 337-TA-1318.

Nokia’s Beacon 2 Wi-Fi 6 router infringes a June 2017 patent (9,686,655) on grouping multiple user data and transmitting the grouped data in a multiple antenna system, alleged patent owner Vector Licensing in a complaint Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Wilmington, Delaware. Nokia describes the Beacon 2 as capable of creating “a seamless Wi-Fi 6 network throughout the home,” using an “intelligent channel selection” for seeking the best signals and “avoiding any Wi-Fi glitches.” Vector is “entitled to recover damages adequate to compensate” for Nokia’s direct infringement, said the complaint. Nokia didn’t omment.

The International Trade Commission assigned Administrative Law Judge Cameron Elliot to preside over the newly opened Tariff Act Section 337 investigation into Broadband iTV allegations that cable set-top boxes from Comcast, Charter and Altice infringe four BBiTV patents on VOD and electronic program guides (see 2205270036), says a notice in docket 337-TA-1315. Commissioners voted 5-0 to launch the investigation. The ITC, in a separate order, denied the cable companies’ request for the agency to adjudicate the case through its 100-day early disposition program (see 2205100031). “It appears that certain information may not be obtainable in time to be used in a 100-day proceeding,” said the commission. BBiTV had opposed the request on grounds that early disposition would “prejudice” its case (see 2205110035).