The FCC should reconsider the FM portion of its order eliminating the radio duplication rule, said the American Association of Independent Music, Future of Music Coalition, REC Networks and musicFIRST Coalition in a conversation Jan. 28 with Commissioner Nathan Simington, per an e filing posted Thursday in docket 19-310. Duplicate programming on commonly owned FM stations harms viewpoint diversity, they said. The groups spoke with an aide to acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel on the same matter (see 2102090063).

Three North Koreans were indicted on charges of helping lead the November 2014 Sony Pictures Entertainment cyberattack and an international campaign to steal more than $1 billion from companies and organizations, DOJ announced Wednesday (see 1809060044). Jon Chang Hyok, Kim Il and Park Jin Hyok were charged with conspiracy to commit computer fraud, wire fraud and bank fraud in an indictment filed in the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. They created “multiple malicious cryptocurrency applications” and developed and fraudulently marketed a blockchain platform, DOJ alleged. They helped create WannaCry 2.0 ransomware in May 2017, the department alleged. “The scope of the criminal conduct by the North Korean hackers was extensive and long-running, and the range of crimes they have committed is staggering,” said acting U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Tracy Wilkison. Then-Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai used his CES 2015 speech to blast the SPE hackers as extortionists (see 1501050055).

TCL’s North American smartphone subsidiary became one of the largest importers to join the massive Section 301 litigation when it filed a complaint (in Pacer) Friday in the U.S. Court of International Trade. Like the roughly 3,500 other lawsuits inundating the court, TCT Mobile (US) seeks to get the List 3 and 4A tariffs on Chinese goods vacated and the duties refunded with interest. TCT's claims “accrued with each and every entry of products” with List 3 or 4A tariff exposure, said the company. The action was filed within two years of the date that TCT paid the duties, it said, satisfying the court’s statute of limitations requirement on the timeliness of complaints. “With a mobile handset product portfolio that includes TCL and Alcatel devices,” TCT is “the fourth largest handset manufacturer in North America,” it said. The complaint lists two dozen import categories for which TCT has List 3 or 4A tariff exposure. Most are for capital goods, packaging materials or components, including lithium-ion batteries. Finished smartphones that TCT imports from China under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule’s 8517.12.00 subheading are on List 4B. The Trump administration postponed indefinitely the 15% tariffs on List 4B goods from taking effect in December 2019 after reaching the phase one trade deal with China (see 1912130042).

Reviewing ASCAP and BMI music licensing consent decrees (see 2101150067) would be a waste of time and government resources, the MIC Coalition wrote President Joe Biden and congressional leaders Thursday. DOJ's closing its latest review of the decrees should be enough to conclude that leaving them in place “best serves competition,” the group wrote, quoting Senate Antitrust Subcommittee Chair Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.

The mechanical licensing collective and digital licensee coordinator will restrict the disclosure and use of confidential information, as required by the Music Modernization Act (see 2102080062), the Copyright Office announced Thursday. An interim rule takes effect March 15, it said.

The Patent and Trademark Office reopened comments on “best practices” for developing a “public-private national consumer awareness campaign” to curb counterfeit and pirated goods trafficking, said Wednesday’s Federal Register. PTO wants input on strategies for consumers to make more “informed” buying decisions, “red flag’’ indicators for suspicious e-commerce listings and incentives to “empower” consumers to help thwart bad actors. Comments are due March 12 in docket PTO-C-2020-0044. They originally closed Jan. 4 from a Nov. 17 solicitation.

To say the Supreme Court's Salinas decision contains a presumption favoring judicial review of administrative action "is inapt," respondent FCC said in a letter Monday (in Pacer, docket 20-1075) to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The issue before the 2nd Circuit in an appeal of the agency's scrapping its junk fax rule retroactively isn't whether the FCC order is reviewable but whether the court should treat a D.C. Circuit decision finding the rule invalid as conclusive, the commission said. Its letter was in response to one from petitioner Bais Yaakov of Spring Valley, New York, arguing SCOTUS' Salinas decision bolsters the appeal (see 2102050006).

Universal Music Group and TikTok expanded their relationship to provide “equitable compensation” for recording artists and songwriters, they said Monday. The companies pledged to experiment with new features. TikTok users will be able to incorporate clips from UMG's music catalog. The alliance “sets an industrywide example of social media companies acknowledging, respecting and compensating the music creators whose songs are instrumental to their platforms,” said Marc Cimino, Universal Music Publishing Group chief operating officer. As a driver in creating chart hits, TikTok will help bring “legacy acts to a new audience,” said Ole Obermann, its global head-music.

The Copyright Office scheduled virtual hearings April 5-8 and 19-22 for the triennial rulemaking proceeding under Section 1201 of Title 17, it announced Monday. Requests to testify are due Feb. 24. The CO plans public roundtables March 25 for a public study to recommend best practices for the Music Modernization Act’s Mechanical Licensing Collective, the CO said Monday. The best practices are meant to “effectively identify and locate copyright owners with unclaimed royalties of musical works, encourage copyright owners to claim accrued royalties, and ultimately reduce the incidence of unclaimed royalties.”

The Supreme Court's recent decision in Salinas supports the position that the Administrative Orders Review Act (Hobbs Act) requires the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to independently review the validity of the FCC's junk fax opt-out rule as part of its review of the agency's 2020 order retroactively repealing that rule, said petitioner Bais Yaakov of Spring Valley, New York. It said the 2nd Circuit isn't bound by a previous D.C. Circuit decision invalidating that rule, said Bais Yaakov, which is appealing the 2020 order with the 2nd Circuit (see 2102020030), in a letter Thursday (in Pacer, docket 20-1075). Salinas said there's a strong presumption in favor of judicial review of administrative action and when there's ambiguity in a statute about the scope of such review, the resolution usually should be in favor of the existence of such review, Bais Yaakov said. Respondent FCC didn't comment Friday.