The International Trade Commission opened a Tariff Act Section 337 investigation into allegations that imports of four models of 43- and 50-inch Hisense smart TVs infringe two Wi-Fi patents granted to Sharp in 2012, the ITC said in a Wednesday notice (login required) in docket 337-TA-1072. In a complaint filed Aug. 29 (see 1709050045), Sharp said Hisense is licensed to make and sell Sharp-branded smart TVs in the U.S., but Hisense also is using the same technologies to make and market smart TVs under its own brand, in violation of the Sharp patents. Hisense called the complaint part of a “scorched-earth campaign of litigation” alleging “anything and everything” in an attempt to “undo” the 2015 license agreement that gave Hisense rights to sell Sharp-branded TVs in the U.S. (see 1709160001). Foxconn bought a majority of Sharp in March 2016, months after a financially ailing Sharp licensed its TV brand to Hisense for the U.S. market in a deal that runs out in 2019 (see 1608240031). Foxconn CEO Terry Gou has said he wants to make Sharp, 8K displays and 5G products the linchpins of the LCD display fab his company plans to build in Wisconsin (see 1707270017). The ITC will consider whether to issue a limited exclusion order and cease and desist orders banning import and sale of Hisense smart TVs that are found to infringe Sharp's patents.
Tessera Technologies is seeking a ban on imports of various Samsung mobile devices that allegedly infringe two Tessera patents, the semiconductor packaging technology supplier said in a Tariff Act Section 337 complaint (login required) filed Thursday at the International Trade Commission in docket 3262. Tessera seeks exclusion and cease and desist orders against Samsung devices containing “wafer-level” packaged (WLP) semiconductors, including the “power management IC” chips used in the “flagship” Galaxy 8 and Note8 smartphones, said the complaint. Tessera believes “these exemplary Samsung products are representative of many other Samsung products imported, sold for importation, and/or sold in the United States after importation by Samsung that feature the same or substantially similar infringing functionality as the exemplary accused products,” it said. A “key benefit” of WLP is “reduced package size,” it said. Tessera’s “innovative packaging techniques are leading technologies in the field of wafer-level packaging,” and are based on U.S. patents that Tessera now owns, and the Samsung products are infringing, it said. The patents (Nos. 6,784,557 and 6,954,001) were published in 2004-2005 and originally assigned to Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., the name of Panasonic’s parent company until shareholders of Matsushita Electric voted in 2008 to change its name to Panasonic Corp. (see 0806270182). Samsung didn't comment Friday.
Philips Lighting filed a Tariff Act Section 337 complaint Thursday at the International Trade Commission, seeking a limited exclusion order and cease-and-desist orders banning import and sale of LED lighting devices and power supplies from eight companies, including Lowe’s, that it alleged infringe its patents. An ITC notice scheduled to be published in Wednesday’s Federal Register seeks comment by Oct. 5 in docket 3256. The Philips complaint (login required) alleges violations of five patents filed 2001-09. “Widespread adoption of LED technology would not have been possible without the development" of modern LED power supplies and LED lighting devices, "many of which Philips Lighting pioneered,” said the complaint. Lowe's representatives didn't comment Tuesday.
The International Trade Commission began a Tariff Act Section 337 investigation into allegations of companies including DTS importing and selling wireless audio systems that infringe patents held by Broadcom and Avago Technologies, said an ITC news release. Broadcom and Avago's Aug. 10 complaint said DTS’ “Play-Fi” technology, which allows a user to stream music from a device into one or more speakers located throughout a user’s home, copies their patented technologies. DTS didn't comment.
If asked if Qualcomm would consider withholding product from Apple as it wages its patent fight against the iPhone maker over baseband processor chips (see 1707200029), “I'd probably not answer that directly,” CEO Steve Mollenkopf told a Citi investor conference Friday. At Qualcomm, “we've really tried to separate the two issues” between suing Apple and supplying product to the company, said Mollenkopf. “They're very separate teams that deal with this,” he said. “We really want to keep these things separate, and we have a very important product business. We think being a good supplier is important. It's important business to us and the shareholders, and we try to have the least amount of disruption that we can have on that. Remember, we want to be a partner of people for decades, so it can take a long view.” History shows “these things get settled out of court,” said Mollenkopf of the fight with Apple. “Now the timing of that is never known, and there's always a lot of elements back and forth.” Mollenkopf thinks “people need to realize there's always discussions” taking place, he said. Apple didn’t comment Monday.
Via Licensing said Verizon joined its LTE licensing program. “Via’s patent pool provides a fair, transparent and cost-effective license to all essential LTE and LTE-Advanced patents from Via's LTE licensors,” Via said.
Sharp Electronics seeks a ban on imports of Hisense smart TVs that allegedly infringe its patents, said a Tarrif Act Section 337 complaint filed Aug. 29 on which the International Trade Commission seeks comment by Sept. 13, according to Tuesday's Federal Register. Sharp has a trademark license agreement with Hisense that allows Hisense to make and sell Sharp-branded smart TVs, but Sharp says Hisense uses the same technologies to make smart sets under its own brand, violating patents. Hisense didn't comment.
South Korea’s Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute joined HEVC Advance, the one-stop-shop H.265 patent pool announced Tuesday. The licensor follows Samsung to become the second new member under an option for licensors to hold dual memberships in HEVC Advance and rival MPEG LA H.265 (see 1704050046).
Broadcom filed a Tariff Act Section 337 International Trade Commission complaint Aug. 10 alleging DTS and others are importing and selling wireless audio systems that infringe its patents. Broadcom complained about DTS’ “Play-Fi” technology, which allows a user to stream music from a device into a household's speakers. The system is incorporated into downstream products from DTS’s affiliate Phorus, plus consumer electronics companies. Broadcom seeks a limited exclusion order and cease and desist orders banning importation and sale of infringing wireless audio systems by DTS and the downstream users of DTS’ “Play-Fi” technology. The ITC is seeking comments by Aug. 24, it said in Wednesday's Federal Register. DTS didn't comment right away.
Recent Amazon and Intel patents give intriguing insight into the arms race developing in the field of CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing Test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart) authentication to distinguish between humans who access websites and computer bots with artificial intelligence that are programmed to behave like humans. U.S. patent 9,723,005, granted Aug. 1 to Amazon Technologies, tells in detail how programmers are using increasingly clever techniques in defeating CAPTCHA challenges and what Amazon is doing to try to overcome them. Bots will probably learn to fail like humans, Amazon predicted. So tests can then start using optical illusions or misquotations that humans will ignore subconsciously, but bots won’t, it said. The CAPTCHA questions can also use cookies stored on a device, together with the user’s online search and purchase history, to frame individualized CAPTCHA questions, said Amazon. So a stamp collector who has searched for and bought rare stamps will be more likely to answer personalized questions on philately correctly than a bot with no access to the user’s personal online history record, it said. An Intel patent application (US 2017/0180348) published in late June offers another solution to the escalating problem of CAPTCHA defeats. Intel’s plan is for a website to ask for live video clips of those attempting to prove they are living human beings, it said. The online system tells them to center their faces on the screen, and then poses a few anti-spoofing commands, such as “make a facial expression” or “show a close-up of your ear,” it said. To guard against a bot displaying pre-shot photo images of a face, the camera can be made 3D-capable or enabled to check for infrared or ultrasonic reflections that reveal body heat and facial contours, it said. Amazon and Intel representatives didn't comment Monday on plans to commercialize the techniques described in the patents.