Amazon and the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center announced Tuesday "Operation Fulfilled Action" to prevent counterfeit goods from entering the U.S. Also supporting the operation are Customs and Border Protection and DHL. Amazon will help the IPR Center identify, interdict and investigate individuals, companies and criminal organizations engaging in illegal import of counterfeit products, said IPR Center Director Steve Francis. Amazon sidelines inventory if it suspects a product may be counterfeit, combining its own intelligence and that from the IPR Center and other agencies, said Dharmesh Mehta, Amazon vice president-customer trust and partner support. The company’s Counterfeit Crimes Unit, created this year, will lead the operation (see 2006250036). Last year, Amazon invested over $500 million to prevent such fraud, it said.

All YouTube counterclaims about alleged abuse of its Content ID system by plaintiff Pirate Monitor (see 2009220001) claim authorized agents of Pirate Monitor uploaded several videos on YouTube, but that should be disregarded in a motion to dismiss unless backed by specific allegations showing an agency relationship. That's according to Pirate Monitor Friday in a motion to dismiss counterclaims (in Pacer, docket 20-cv-04423) in U.S. District Court in San Francisco. Pirate Monitor and composer Maria Schneider are suing Google's YouTube, alleging it facilitated piracy by keeping individual artists from being able to access Content ID. Pirate Monitor said the counterclaims require specificity in the pleading including alleging facts that identify details about the fraud, but the defendant YouTube alleged none of the particulars. YouTube outside counsel didn't comment Monday.

Progress on a treaty updating broadcasting protections was paused due to the pandemic at this past week's meeting of the World Intellectual Property Organization's Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights. The mostly virtual SCCR meeting, chaired by newly appointed Chairman Aziz Dieng of Senegal, suffered from technical glitches and didn't address substantive issues. Conclusions noted the committee "took note of" a recap of the current document setting out proposed text on definitions, object of protection, rights to be granted and other issues, and of delegates' statements. "We are nothing closer (nor further away)" from a treaty, "and for the moment there is no new thinking," European Broadcasting Union Intellectual Property Head Heijo Ruijsenaars emailed us. "After 22 years, I'm still optimistic," he said at the webcast meeting. Talks now move to the next SCCR session, for which no date has been set, WIPO Copyright Law Division Director Michele Woods emailed us.

International Trade Commission Administrative Law Judge Cameron Elliot signed an order (login required) Wednesday in docket 337-TA-1224 setting February 2022 as the target for completing the investigation into allegations that Dell, HP and Lenovo PCs; Hisense, LG and TCL smart TVs; and Intel, MediaTek and Realtek video processors infringe Philips' high-bandwidth digital content protection patents (see 2010190036). Elliot’s order set the investigation's evidentiary hearing for July 19-23.

Granting DivX the import ban it seeks against LG, Samsung and TCL would exclude more than half the smart TVs sold in the U.S., LG responded (login required) at the International Trade Commission in docket 337-TA-1222. The ITC voted Oct. 14 to open a Tariff Act Section 337 investigation into allegations that LG, Samsung and TCL smart TVs and MediaTek, MStar and Realtek video processors infringe four DivX patents on adaptive bit rate streaming (see 2010140042). Samsung and TCL also filed responses Wednesday that were publicly redacted. Though DivX claims the market would continue to be adequately supplied with smart TVs despite the “disruption” of an import ban against three brand-share leaders, “it makes no products itself and provides no evidence that any third party could meet demand,” said LG. “Competition and consumers would suffer.” Smart TVs during the pandemic “have been increasingly relied on for consumer entertainment experiences, streaming video, and remote learning experiences,” said LG. “These technologies are ubiquitous in modern life.” LG “does not, and has not directly or indirectly infringed any valid and enforceable claim” of the DivX patents, said the manufacturer. DivX didn’t respond to questions.

The Copyright Royalty Board will add multifactor authentication to its eCRB login process in early December, it said Tuesday. The eCRB is an online litigation filing and case management system. Instructions will be emailed to registered users “once multifactor authentication is in place,” the CRB said.

TTKN Enterprises (dba Crystal Clear Media) ran a "massive, leveraged piracy operation [that] posed a direct threat to the legitimate streaming market," said Motion Picture Association Global General Counsel Karyn Temple Tuesday as the content industry coalition Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) announced a permanent injunction against TTKN. U.S. District Judge George Wu of Los Angeles also awarded a $40 million judgment against TTKN last week (in Pacer, docket 20-cv-07274). ACE sued TTKN and its principals in August. TTKN outside counsel didn't comment.

“Many more markets” will go live in ATSC 3.0 in Q1, and “by the summer, we’ll hit the top 40,” Pearl Managing Director Anne Schelle told us. The broadcast industry’s original plans were to have stations in the top 40 TV markets up and running by year-end, but COVID-19 “put us back a bit,” she said. “I’m proud about the number of stations going up,” including “some big ones” going live with 3.0 in December, she said. Pearl TV and its partners in the Phoenix model market test bed project are poised to launch their first NextGenTV branding campaign to raise consumer awareness of the technology and promote its adoption for when people shop for TVs, Schelle noted. “Markets are launching” with 3.0 services, and it’s time to start engaging consumers, she said. The campaign begins Nov. 25 and runs through mid-January, said Schelle. It touts "stunning video," though Schelle said 4K and HDR likely won't become commercial realities before 2021. Service and device enhancements are inevitable as the launch progresses, said Pearl spokesperson Dave Arland, likening this stage of 3.0's debut to the first quarter of a football game. HDR is “not there yet,” partly due to COVID-19 delays, Schelle said. “You will see, I think in 2021, distribution on the various HDR formats from the networks.” Expect the NextGenTV logo to gain a much more ubiquitous presence after the campaign kicks off, said Schelle. We pored through the LG, Samsung and Sony links on the WatchNextGenTV.com consumer-facing website, plus the Best Buy and Amazon online stores, finding the logo mentioned only on Samsung’s e-commerce site. “That is going to change,” said Schelle. “They just haven’t updated it yet. It’s on their to-do list.” She expects more TV brands to jump into 3.0 at the virtual CES 2021 in January.

DivX’s Sept. 10 International Trade Commission complaint alleging infringement of four adaptive bit rate streaming patents (see 2009160052) is “unfounded,” Realtek responded (login required) Monday in docket 337-TA-1222. Commissioners voted Oct. 14 to open an investigation (see 2010140042). Also responding are LG, MediaTek, MStar, Samsung and TCL. The ITC should deny “in its entirety” any relief DivX seeks, including exclusion and cease and desist orders, said Realtek. DivX’s complaint is “not factual,” said the chipmaker: The infringement allegations are “baseless and should be withdrawn." DivX didn’t respond to questions Tuesday.

COVID-19-related timing provision adjustments are extended through Jan. 8, the Copyright Office said Monday. Originally to expire May 12, adjustments were previously extended to July 10, Sept. 8 and Nov. 9 (see 2009020031).