Other Barks & Bites for Friday, April 26: World IP Day Celebrations, Special 301 Report, and Amazon Helps Identify Patent Infringers

This week in Other Barks & Bites, governments and intellectual property offices around the world celebrate World IP Day; the U.S. Trade Representative releases its most recent Notorious Markets List; TiVo subsidiary Rovi files another patent suit against licensing holdout Comcast; Amazon ramps up program for connecting sellers with lawyers for patent infringement issues; the USPTO seeks public comments on gathering data for SUCCESS Act study; music industry groups submit letter to Copyright Office regarding Mechanical Licensing Collective membership; and weak China data center sales sends Intel stock tumbling by 7.5 percent.

World IP Day Roundup

Every year since 2000, intellectual property organizations around the globe have celebrated World Intellectual Property Day on April 26. Events coordinated around World IP Day are designed to increase awareness of the importance of patents, trademarks and copyright to the development of culture and societies. The theme for this year’s World IP Day is “Reach for Gold: IP and Sports” and many events are designed to show the intersection between the worlds of professional sports and intellectual property.

World IP Day at WIPO – The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has a website feature various educational resources and a schedule of IP-related events at WIPO’s Switzerland headquarters including a screening of the Spanish comedy-drama Campeones (“Champions”) and a demonstration of teqball, a newly developed sport that melds table tennis and soccer.

World IP Day at the USPTO – The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is hosting an hour-long event on April 26 in the Madison Auditorium at the USPTO’s Alexandria campus. The event, which will be livestreamed, will feature remarks from Lisa Jorgenson, Executive Director, American Intellectual Property Lawyers Association; Russ Slifer, former Deputy Director of the USPTO; and a 30-minute discussion from Chris Melissinos, former Gaming Director, Sun, and Founder, Javagaming.org.

World IP Day at the Copyright Office – The U.S. Copyright Office hosted an event on April 25 entitled “Reach for Gold: Copyright and Sports” featuring speakers such as Derrick Heggans, Founder and CEO, Global Sports and Entertainment Business Academy; and Delara Derakhshani, Counsel, Tech Policy, Entertainment Software Association.

World IP Day at CIPO – The Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) will host a networking event on April 26 which features a panel discussing the impact of IP on sports innovation. The panel includes Susan Abramovitch, Partner, Gowling WLG; Blaine Hoshizaki, Director, Neurotrauma Impact Science Lab, University of Ottawa; Dr. Daniel Abram, CTO, Shield-X Technology; and Jonathan Thériault, Lead Engineer, HockeyShot.

World IP Day at the House of Commons – On April 24, the British House of Commons held an event hosted by the Intellectual Property Awareness Network which focused on the importance of intellectual property in business strategies and concerns about IP related to Brexit.

Bites

USTR Annual Special 301 Report and Notorious Markets List Released – On Thursday, April 25, the office of the U.S. Trade Representative released its Special 301 Report with its Notorious Markets List, which included 36 countries. Countries on the Priority Watch List include Algeria, Argentina, China, India, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.

NIST Releases Green Paper on Maximizing U.S. Innovation From Government-Funded Research – The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) on Wednesday announced 15 key findings from a final version of a new “green paper”. The paper found, based on feedback from industry, academic and government stakeholders, that “interpretation of the Bayh-Dole Act has created confusion over the ‘march-in rights’ and ‘government use license’ provisions, and that some stakeholders want clarification” and discusses proposals for clarifying march-in rights. The paper is primarily a discussion document and does not prescribe policy decisions by the federal government.

Amazon Launches Program for Expedited Removal of Patent Infringing Listings – On Wednesday, April 24, The Information reported that Amazon has been testing a program that connects sellers who believe their patents are being infringed by merchants on Amazon with third-party lawyers who can evaluate their claims and assist in takedowns.

SONA Asks Copyright Office for Industry-Led Coalition to Form MLC – On Monday, April 22, Billboard reported that the Songwriters of North America (SONA) submitted a letter address to Register of Copyrights Karyn Temple asking her to consider selecting an industry consensus group including SONA, the National Music Publishers’ Association and the Nashville Songwriters Association International to serve as the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) established by the Music Modernization Act.

USPTO Requests Public Comments on SUCCESS Act Study – On Friday, April 26, the USPTO published a request for comments in the Federal Register seeking public input on the study it is required to perform under the terms of the SUCCESS Act to address issues with the participation of women, minorities and veterans in the U.S. patent system.

Eleventh Circuit Affirms Ruling of No Jury Trial When Seeking Profits in Lieu of Damages – On Tuesday, April 23, the Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit issued a ruling in Hard Candy v. Anastasia Beverly Hills which affirmed a ruling out of the Southern District of Florida that denied Hard Candy’s request for a jury trial on the basis that Hard Candy was seeking disgorgement of profits for trademark infringement, an equitable remedy that didn’t entitle Hard Candy to a jury trial.

WARF Files Opening Brief in Third Circuit Case Against The Washington University – On Friday, April 19, the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) filed its opening brief in its case against The Washington University being appealed to the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. The case involves a 1995 patent license agreement between the two entities which WARF argues was misinterpreted by the District of Delaware in an earlier ruling in the case.

Ninth Circuit Revives Copyright Infringement Claims Against H&M – On Wednesday, April 24, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit revived copyright infringement claims filed by Malibu Textiles against H&M and two other apparel companies over the use of lace-overlay patterns after the appellate court found that the presiding judge had abused his discretion and misinterpreted the law.

Barks

TiVo Files Another Patent Suit Against Comcast – On Monday, April 22, TiVo subsidiary Rovi Guides filed another patent infringement suit against cable company Comcast in the Central District of California, the latest chapter in the ongoing spat between the two over Comcast’s refusal to license Rovi set-top box technology for its Xfinity service.

Ninth Circuit Affirms Copyright, Trademark Win for Life is Beautiful Festival – On Tuesday, April 23, the Ninth Circuit upheld a lower court’s ruling that artist Thierry Guetta obtained a trademark registration for the term “life is beautiful” by fraud, vindicating copyright and trademark infringement claims filed by the Life is Beautiful Music and Arts Festival.

PTAB Dismisses Challenges to SureCell Cellular Boosting Patents – On Thursday, April 25, cell phone signal booster manufacturer SureCell announced that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) had terminated six validity trials pre-institution targeting the firm’s patents covering technologies for boosting cell phone signals regardless of service provider.

Jill Greenberg Sues McGarryBowen, Clorox for Use of Cats on Glass Photo – On Tuesday, April 16, photographer Jill Greenberg filed a copyright infringement suit in the Southern District of New York against ad agency McGarryBowen and consumer goods company Clorox over claims that their use of the “Cats on Glass” photos extended beyond the contracted scope of the use of those images for Fresh Step cat litter advertising.

Enzo Settles Patent Dispute with Hologic, Grifols – On Tuesday, April 16, pharmaceutical firm Enzo Life Sciences reported in a filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it had settled all outstanding patent suits between it, Hologic and Grifols over technologies involving the use of modified nucleotides for use in diagnostic and therapeutic applications. The settlement includes a one-time payment of $14 million to Enzo.

WiLAN Subsidiary Inks Patent Settlement With NVIDIA – On Tuesday, April 23, Polaris Innovations Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of patent licensing entity WiLAN Inc., announced that it had entered into an agreement with NVIDIA Corporation to license patents covering memory interface technology, ending all outstanding patent litigation between the parties.

This Week on Wall Street 

Uber Shoots for $90 Million IPO – On Thursday, April 25, Bloomberg reported that ride hailing company Uber was planning to price stock for its initial public offering (IPO) at anywhere from $44 to $50 per share, potentially seeking a valuation of as much as $90 billion. 

Intel Revenue Cut Sends Shares Down 7.5 Percent – On Thursday, April 25, shares of Intel stock dropped by 7.5 percent after the company cut its full-year revenues forecast in large part because of weak data center sales in China.

Amazon Beats Earnings Expectation by $2.37 Per Share – On Thursday, April 25, Amazon.com released its earnings report for 2019’s first quarter which showed that the e-commerce giant posted a huge beat on expectations of earnings per share, taking in $7.09 per share instead of the $4.72 anticipated by analysts. 

Quarterly Earnings – The following firms identified among the IPO’s Top 300 Patent Recipients for 2017 are announcing quarterly earnings next week (2017 rank in parentheses):

• Monday: Alphabet Inc. (5th); Koninklijke Philips N.V. (t-39th); NXP Semiconductor N.V. (t-66th); Western Digital Corp. (45th)
• Tuesday: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (t-258th); Airbus SE (172nd); Apple, Inc. (12th); Corning Inc. (76th); Delta Electronics Inc. (t-244th); Eaton Corp. (138th); Ecolab USA Inc. (208th); General Electric Co. (6th); LG Electronics Inc. (8th); Merck & Co., Inc. (169th); Nielsen Holdings PLC (t-230th); Samsung Electro Mechanics (129th); Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (2nd); Samsung SDI Co., Ltd. (t-96th); Seagate Technology, LLC (88th); Sprint Corp. (98th)
• Wednesday: Cree, Inc. (t-161st); Dolby Laboratories Inc. (107th); Qualcomm, Inc. (7th)
• Thursday: InterDigital Technology Corp. (123rd); Motorola Solutions, Inc. (t-275th)
• Friday: BASF SE (92nd)