Facebook filed a lawsuit in Virginia against 12 fraudulent domain names registered by India-based proxy service Compsys Domain Solutions, it said Monday. The domains, such as facebook-verify-inc.com and videocall-whatsapp.com, were allegedly used to deceive people by impersonating Facebook apps. Facebook said that to protect users from phishing, credential theft and other methods of online fraud, it regularly scans the internet for domain names and apps that infringe its trademarks. Compsys doesn't appear to have a website and couldn't be reached.

The Copyright Office is accepting comments through Aug. 3 on a study on how “copyright owners are experiencing infringement by states without adequate remedies under state law.” The CO announced this in Wednesday's Federal Register. The Senate Intellectual Property Subcommittee requested it after the Supreme Court ruled in Allen v. Cooper in March states are immune to copyright infringement liability.

U.S. District Judge Liam O'Grady of Alexandria, Virginia, allowed recalculation of the number of musical works cable ISP Cox Communications is being sued over, without changing the formula for arriving at total copyright infringement damages due plaintiff record companies and music publishers. That's in an opinion Wednesday (in Pacer, docket 18-cv-00950) in which the court partially granted and partially denied Cox motions for post-verdict relief on the $1 billion jury award against it and in which it sought a new trial (see 2002250024). There's nothing to suggest the jury's per-work award is improper and thus no basis for a new trial, O'Grady said. But he ordered that the number of songs be recalculated so each song with multiple copyrights be combined instead of damages being awarded for each copyright the song has. Cox outside counsel didn't comment.

Internet Archive should be blocked from scanning and sharing millions of literary works, the Association of American Publishers said Monday in a lawsuit at U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. AAP accused IA of sharing “some 1.3 million bootleg scans of print books” through public-facing online libraries. Plaintiffs are Hachette, HarperCollins, John Wiley & Sons and Penguin Random House. The lawsuit “condemns the fact that IA solicits and collects truckloads of in-copyright books in order to copy and make them available without permission,” AAP said, arguing there are no exceptions for this activity under fair use, the first sale doctrine or in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. IA founder Brewster Kahle called the lawsuit “disappointing.” IA “acquires books and lends them, as libraries have always done,” which supports the publishing industry, he emailed. “Publishers suing libraries for lending books, in this case, protected digitized versions, and while schools and libraries are closed, is not in anyone's interest.” For too long, "IA has brazenly scanned and distributed published works while refusing to abide by the traditional contours of copyright law,” Copyright Alliance CEO Keith Kupferschmid said. Public Knowledge Legal Director John Bergmayer wrote in support of IA, saying controlled digital lending is fair use under copyright law: "The National Emergency Library, which expands on CDL, is justified under the circumstances of the pandemic, when so many print books paid for by the public are inaccessible." He urged Congress to support legislation "clarifying the right of libraries to make print books available to patrons electronically, and to serve their constituencies during times of emergency.”

The First Amendment clearly protects cable distributors and programmers from laws singling out the news media for special treatment, as well as their editorial discretion in creating programming packages, cable company plaintiff appellees said Thursday in a 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals brief (docket 20-1104, in Pacer). They opposed Maine appealing a lower court's grant of a preliminary injunction on First Amendment grounds blocking a state law requiring cable operators provide programming on an a la carte basis (see 2004300011). Appellees are Comcast, A&E, C-SPAN, ViacomCBS, Discovery, Disney, Fox Cable Network Services and New England Sports Network. The governor's office didn't comment Friday.

GeoBroadcast Solutions plans demos of the zoned broadcast coverage technology it petitioned on, Xperi wrote, posted in RM-11854 Thursday (see 2005180041). “Xperi will work with GeoBroadcast to develop appropriate test plans to provide data demonstrating the ZoneCasting experience on HD Radio stations” and the tech’s impacts on that service, the FCC filing said. Move toward an NPRM on zoned broadcast coverage, Xperi asked. “The NPRM process will give all parties ample time to explore these various issues.” GeoBroadcast "has been continuously refining and simulating the models that will successfully integrate geo-targeting within HD radio, and look[s] forward to working closely with Xperi in the field," it emailed.

Sharp's lawyers served documents electronically Thursday on Vizio, TPV and Xianyang CaiHong Optoelectronics in connection with the International Trade Commission’s newly opened Tariff Act Section 337 investigation into Sharp allegations that Vizio and its suppliers are infringing five Sharp LCD display patents (see 2005210041). The electronic dissemination of documents was in keeping with the ITC’s March 16 order temporarily waiving its requirement on paper filings due to the COVID-19 pandemic, said a certificate of service (login required) in docket 337-TA-1201. Vizio and its suppliers have until June 10 to file responses to the notice of investigation.

The Copyright Office’s recommendations on Digital Millennium Copyright Act Section 512 (see 2005210057) are “ill-considered” and improperly favor views of copyright holders, Public Knowledge Policy Counsel Meredith Rose said Friday. She criticized the CO for disregarding “ample evidence that the DMCA is often abused by people looking to censor content they have no rights over.” The report properly concluded that Section 512 is unbalanced and needs to be remedied, Copyright Alliance CEO Keith Kupferschmid said Thursday.

The International Trade Commission voted Wednesday to open a Tariff Act Section 337 investigation into Sharp allegations that Vizio, its panel maker Xianyang CaiHong Optoelectronics and TV set manufacturer TPV infringe five Sharp LCD display patents (see 2004270045), said an agency notice Thursday in docket 337-TA-1201. Vizio and the other respondents didn’t comment. They have 20 days to file a response. Administrative Law Judge Dee Lord was assigned to the case.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. hired outside counsel to “conduct legal analysis and ensure a comprehensive examination and interpretation” of new U.S. restrictions on Huawei (see 2005190030), a TSMC spokesperson emailed us Tuesday, declining to answer some of our questions about the companies' relationship. TSMC reportedly halted processing of all new orders by Huawei. Hours before the Commerce Department further stepped up controls on Huawei, TSMC announced plans to build its first U.S.-based chip factory. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and two other senior Senate Democrats pressed Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross and Defense Secretary Mark Esper Wednesday to tell them about U.S. government involvement in TSMC’s decision to build the U.S. chip factory, including if any “federal subsidies” were part of the negotiations. “We have serious questions as to how this project takes into consideration national security requirements and how it aligns with a broader strategy for building a diverse U.S. semiconductor manufacturing supply chain,” the Democratic senators wrote Esper and Ross. “We ask that you cease any such negotiations or discussions until you have briefed the relevant authorization and appropriations committees with your plans, including any commitments you have made to funding, tax breaks, licensures, or other incentives.” A “one-off investment like the proposed TSMC facility is inadequate to rebuilding U.S. manufacturing capacity in microelectronics, which is essential to our national and economic security,” the senators said. “Unfortunately, there is no evidence that the Administration has a comprehensive, integrated plan for achieving this.”