Officials are studying how long the federal judiciary's funded operations could continue if there's another government shutdown after Feb. 15, said the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Tuesday. It cited an update from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts Monday that said, "Similar to how courts operated from Oct. 1, 2018, through Dec. 21, 2018, courts have been advised to limit obligations to those necessary to carry out their mission and maintain current operations." Courts sustained funded operations during the partial shutdown that began Dec. 22 by deferring "non-critical operating costs" and using court filing fees and other available funds, said the office, noting the money was expected to run out this Friday (see 1901230014) before a continuing resolution was enacted last week.

Denying Microsoft the ability to use existing software interfaces to build computer programs under copyright law would severely limit computer industry innovation, Chief Legal Officer Kent Walker blogged Thursday. Microsoft asks the Supreme Court to review its ongoing fair use dispute with Oracle (see 1705300064). Upholding past rulings against Microsoft would be “akin to saying that keyboard shortcuts can work with only one type of computer,” Walker wrote. Oracle didn’t comment immediately.

A possible defense Netflix might employ in litigation brought by the publisher of the Choose Your Own Adventure (CYOA) book series (see 1901140004) is that consumers aren't like to confuse the child-friendly books with Netflix's dark and bloody Black Mirror: Bandersnatch movie, American Enterprise Institute adjunct fellow Michael Rosen blogged Tuesday. He said Netflix also could argue the Bandersnatch popularity increased CYOA's value or that CYOA never should have been given a trademark since it's descriptive and not inherently distinctive. The suit "highlights both the importance and the unpredictability of intellectual property in pop culture," Rosen said. Netflix didn't comment.

TVEyes won't display or make available Fox News Channel or Fox Business Channel video clips under a settlement reached with Fox News, the parties said in a docket 13-cv-05315 proposed stipulation and order (in Pacer) filed Friday with the U.S. District Court in Manhattan. The Supreme Court last month denied TVEyes' ask of a 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision in the company's copyright fight with Fox (see 1812030024).

Apple's "self-serving, strained reading" of the word "episodes" is unsubstantiated as it seeks dismissal of a false advertising lawsuit on how the company sells seasons of TV series via iTunes (see 1810100047), plaintiffs said Wednesday in opposition (in Pacer) to defendant's motion to dismiss, docket 18-cv-06139-PJH. A California and a New York resident told the U.S. District Court in San Jose consumers understand "episode" by its common meaning of a plot-based episode of a show, so considering behind-the-scenes and promotional clips as episodes is misleading. Apple's motion to dismiss (in Pacer) last month said iTunes wasn't false or deceptive because the information was there but was "unreasonably misunderstood" by the plaintiffs who either didn't read the entire menus or ignored information.

The publisher of the Choose Your Own Adventure book series is suing Netflix for a reference in the heavily hyped Black Mirror: Bandersnatch Netflix original production. Chooseco asked for damages of at least $25 million in its trademark infringement and unfair competition docket 19-cv-00008-wks complaint (in Pacer), filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Burlington, Vermont. It said a reference early in the Bandersnatch film about a Choose Your Own Adventure book was done without license or authorization. Netflix didn't comment Monday.

Senate Antitrust Subcommittee ranking member Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said Friday Attorney General nominee William Barr agreed in a Thursday meeting to recuse himself from DOJ's review of AT&T's buy of Time Warner if he's confirmed. A three-judge U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit panel is reviewing DOJ's appeal of a district court ruling that let AT&T/TW proceed (see 1812060015). Barr, a former Time Warner board member, attended a November 2017 meeting with Antitrust Division head Makan Delrahim and Time Warner General Counsel Paul Cappuccio (see 1812070056). “It is critically important that [DOJ] is able to complete an unbiased review” here, Klobuchar said. “Given Mr. Barr’s ties to Time Warner, this commitment from Mr. Barr to recuse himself from the Department’s review is necessary.” The Senate Judiciary Committee set a Tuesday hearing on Barr's nomination, 9:30 a.m. in Hart 216. DOJ and AT&T didn't comment.

Sprint will pay $330 million to settle a New York state lawsuit alleging the carrier knowingly failed to collect and remit more than $100 million in state and local sales taxes owed on flat-rate wireless calling plans, Attorney General Barbara Underwood (D) said Friday. The AG said it’s the largest-ever recovery by a single state in an action brought under a state false claims act, and it followed another record-breaking New York settlement with Charter Communications about internet speed claims (see 1812180027). The AG said it has already distributed “a substantial portion” of the $330 million to localities directly harmed by Sprint’s conduct. Per terms of the New York False Claims Act, the whistleblower who brought the case in 2011 will receive $62.7 million, the AG said. Sprint collected state and local taxes for only the portion of the flat-rate charge it deemed intrastate, even though tax law and guidance doesn’t differentiate among intrastate, interstate and international calls, the AG said. Sprint violated tax law from 2005 to 2014, including after New York started investigating and after the state sued, the AG said. “Sprint knew exactly how New York sales tax law applied to its plans -- yet for years the company flagrantly broke the law, cheating the state and its localities out of tax dollars that should have been invested in our communities,” said Underwood. Acting Commissioner of Taxation and Finance Nonie Manion said that “Sprint violated the trust of its customers and deprived communities across New York State of revenue needed.” The company didn’t comment.

The iPhone X, XS and XS Max smartphones lack Apple's “advertised” screen resolutions and screen sizes in violation of consumer protection laws in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, alleged a complaint (in Pacer) Friday in U.S. District Court in San Jose that seeks class-action status. Apple's "nominal screen pixel resolution counts misleadingly count false pixels as if they were true pixels," said the complaint. The screens omit half of the red and half of the blue subpixels in a display, leaving the screen with half of the advertised number of pixels and two-thirds of the advertised number of subpixels, it said. The screen-size "deception" is "simply based on Apple cutting corners," it said. The iPhone screens have rounded-off corners with "notches" at the top containing no pixels, yet Apple "calculates the screen size" by including "non-screen areas such as the corners and the cut-out notch at the top of the screen," it said. The "missing screen areas" also further reduce the iPhones' "false pixel counts," it said. Apple’s “conduct in employing these unfair and deceptive trade practices [was] malicious, willful, wanton and outrageous such as to shock the conscience of the community and warrant the imposition of punitive damages,” it said. California resident Christian Sponchiado paid $1,149 for his iPhone X at an AT&T store in San Francisco, and his co-plaintiff Brooklynite Courtney Davis bought her iPhone XS Max for $1,099 from Apple online, the complaint said. Sponchiado and Davis “suffered injury in fact and lost money” because the iPhones they bought “did not provide the advertised screen quality, resolution, or size and was worth less than the phone she had bargained for,” it said. The company didn’t comment.

Former Cablevision CEO James Dolan will pay a $609,810 fine for failing to report in a timely manner his acquisition of voting securities in Madison Square Garden Co. (MSG), where he's executive chairman, the FTC said Thursday. In a complaint filed Thursday with U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia, DOJ said Dolan had violated Hart-Scott-Rodino Act reporting requirements in the past and that he did so again in 2017 when he acquired 591 shares through vested restricted stock units but didn't file the required, timely paperwork. Justice said the complaint and accompanying proposed settlement, subject to court approval, come at the FTC's request. "Any shareholder whose stockholdings exceed certain thresholds is required to make an HSR filing," MSG emailed. "Debevoise & Plimpton is the law firm responsible for making timely HSR filings relating to Jim Dolan’s MSG stock. Debevoise inadvertently missed a required HSR filing deadline, for a second time, which resulted in a fine by the FTC. Debevoise agreed to pay the fine as a result of their mistake.”