LG TVs use dimming-control technologies that infringe two Polaris PowerLED patents for manipulating screen brightness through LED backlights, alleged a complaint (in Pacer) Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, California. Polaris owns patents 7,239,087, granted July 2007, and 8,223,117, issued July 2012, that were originally assigned to Microsemi, said the complaint. An LG spokesperson declined comment Tuesday. Microsemi ceased to exist after Microchip Technology bought it for $10 billion cash in May 2018. Court records show Polaris has several complaints pending in Santa Ana dating to September 2018 that allege Vizio and its contract manufacturers AmTran, Foxconn, TPV and Wistron are infringing the same two patents. Polaris also sued Samsung two years ago in U.S. District Court in Marshall, Texas, over the same patents. They settled last summer.

A deaf Brooklyn resident who has sued media outlets over the past year over lack of closed-captioning for their online video streams now is targeting adult online streaming services Pornhub, RedTube and YouPorn. In a class-action status-seeking complaint Thursday in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn (in Pacer), Yaroslav Suris said lack of captioning violated the American Disabilities Act, New York Human Rights Law, New York State Civil Rights Law and New York City Human Rights Law. Yaris brought similar complaints in the past year against CBS Interactive, Fox News Network, Investor's Business Daily, the Weather Channel and TMZ; all settled within months except for the Fox complaint brought in December. Yaris' counsel didn't comment Friday; Mindgeek emailed that it has closed-captioned adult videos.

The court “owes no deference” to DOJ Antitrust Division supporting Global Music Right’s lawsuit against the Radio Music License Committee, said NAB in an amicus brief Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. “It is unorthodox for the Department to intercede in private litigation, especially at the pleading stage.” DOJ (see 1912190052) doesn't explain the “striking shift” from its previous stance on performance rights organizations, NAB said. The industry “has been under active Department supervision for decades” so Justice's sudden interest in whether RMLC is anticompetitive is “an about face” that's “unjustified and unwarranted,” the association said: Dismiss GMR's claims.

LG and Best Buy are asking the U.S. District Court in Minneapolis to grant their motion for summary judgment in a May 2016 complaint that accused them of duping the public about the refresh rates of LG TVs through misleading and fraudulent advertising statements. It’s “undisputed” that the LG sets use “backlight scanning technology that reduces motion blur and improves picture quality,” said a heavily redacted memorandum (in Pacer) filed Friday in support of the motion. “Plaintiffs received televisions that provided them with the exact benefit they claim they wanted to receive.” Four plaintiffs remain from the original eight who filed the complaint nearly four years ago seeking class-action status, it said. All have “fatal flaws that defeat their claims,” including one who admits he “never saw the purportedly problematic advertising,” and another who “was not damaged at all, given that he ultimately received a reimbursement of the full television purchase price,” it said. Attempts to reach the plaintiffs’ lawyers for comment Tuesday were unsuccessful.

The Tunney Act review of T-Mobile's buying Sprint won't pause while states separately challenge the deal at U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Judge Timothy Kelly said in a minute order Wednesday at U.S. District Court in Washington (case 1:19-cv-02232). Kelly allowed an October amici brief (in Pacer) by New York, the District of Columbia and other states challenging the deal at the SDNY, but said the states may not seek a stay of the case in Washington. States asked the D.C. court not to schedule any hearings or determination under the Tunney Act until the SDNY litigation finished. “To the extent [states’] brief can be characterized as a motion for a stay or to otherwise delay these proceedings, the Court will deny it,” Kelly said. Parties in the Tunney Act case should be on a phone status conference Friday at 2 p.m., he said. At the lower Manhattan court, post-trial findings of fact and conclusions of law were due Wednesday.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted Monday Apple’s unopposed request to seal confidential information in a case about 5G-related intellectual property, FTC v. Qualcomm (see 2001030045).

Apple filed to seal confidential information in FTC v. Qualcomm (see 1912020029). Qualcomm is appealing an FTC lawsuit over the company's alleged mobile chip monopoly. Apple wants to "intervene in this appeal solely for the purpose of moving to seal Apple’s confidential information,” it wrote the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, released Thursday evening and accepted the next day.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Donald Cabell in Boston granted Sound United’s motion Friday to serve its trademark infringement complaint and summons on an Amazon third-party seller electronically. The merchant's ability to “mask its identity through the anonymity afforded by the Internet” has rendered Sound United “unable to locate a physical address for Defendant to effectuate traditional service,” said Sound United’s Dec. 20 motion (in Pacer). The online merchant, which goes by the name “audio video sales guy” (AVSG), is selling Sound United products on Amazon without authorization, said a Dec. 18 complaint (in Pacer). Cabell’s order (in Pacer) authorized Sound United to serve AVSG the legal papers through the same Amazon email service the online merchant uses to communicate with customers. Attempts to reach AVSG Friday through its Amazon mailbox were unsuccessful. Amazon, which isn't a party to Sound United’s complaint, didn’t comment.

A DOJ and FCC brief urging the court to allow T-Mobile/Sprint is likely headed to the “dustbin,” the same fate as DOJ’s earlier motion to disqualify states’ lead counsel, New Street Research's Blair Levin wrote in a Monday note to investors. Friday, the FCC and DOJ Antitrust Division urged deference to their conditional OKs, at U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (see 1912200043). Judge Victor Marrero “is already well aware of the DOJ/FCC decisions,” and the new brief raises little new upon which he’d be likely to rely, said Levin. The filing “might have been done to help on appeal, in creating issues on which the DOJ could appeal,” he said. “If, however, the judge decides against the companies, we think he will have grounds to do so in ways that will make the odds of success for any appeal low. And if he decides to rule for the companies, it will likely be for reasons outside the DOJ/FCC filing.” Closing arguments at SDNY will be Jan. 15, with two hours per side. Parties must file post-trial findings of fact and conclusions of law by Jan. 8. That could put a ruling between mid-February and mid-March, Levin wrote.

The Antitrust Division doesn’t have actual interest in Global Music Right’s lawsuit against the Radio Music License Committee, and DOJ’s Dec. 5 filing (in Pacer) siding with GMR is “puzzling,” RMLC responded (in Pacer) Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. The long-running proceeding concerns GMR allegations that RMLC operates anticompetitively, as a “cartel.” Justice’s argument RMLC misstated laws against price fixing and that buyer-side price fixing is as pernicious as the sales version isn’t related to GMR’s argument, RMLC said. DOJ’s contention arbitration would be unlawful contradicts recent department arguments in favor of arbitration over litigation, RMLC said. "Private, civil enforcement is an important supplement to the United States’ efforts to eliminate these unlawful practices," said DOJ. “Even if the Court were to credit in full everything the Division has said, granting RMLC’s motion for judgment on the pleadings would still be warranted,” the committee said.