Cox Communications is appealing a U.S. District Court in Alexandria order last month denying two Cox motions for relief from judgment on the 2019 $1 billion damages award given to music labels charging it with contributory and vicarious copyright infringement, the ISP said Friday in a docket 1:18-cv-00950 notice of appeal to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In the order, District Judge Liam O'Grady found "without merit" Cox's arguments that evidence in similar litigation involving Charter Communications showed the evidence against Cox to be unreliable and inadmissible. Seeing the Charter litigation, Cox "may well be rethinking and reevaluating their previous trial strategies, [but it] received a full and fair trial here," O'Grady wrote, calling the Charter evidence immaterial to Cox's case.

If the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit doesn’t rehear an antitrust case involving standard essential patents (SEPs), it will harm consumers and access to Wi-Fi and 5G products, tech groups argued Wednesday in 20-11032. Continental Automotive Systems sued Avanci in 2020, arguing the latter’s refusal to sell an SEP license on fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory (FRAND) terms is a violation of antitrust law. The Computer and Communications Industry Association, the App Association, High Tech Alliance and the Public Interest Patent Law Institute signed a joint amici brief asking the court to allow the lawsuit to proceed. The 5th Circuit is reviewing a February panel decision dismissing the claim. Avanci broke its promises under FRAND terms so “that it could make more money by licensing more profitable companies,” said CCIA Patent Counsel Joshua Landau. “If the panel decision stands, SEP patent holders will see a green light to withhold licenses, harming competitors and consumers alike.”

Movie studio plaintiffs landed a permanent injunction giving them control of the PrimeWire video piracy sites, per an order Wednesday (docket 2:21-cv-09317) by U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi in Los Angeles, as he granted them default judgment. He said the defendants haven't defended the copyright violation litigation, despite making changes to PrimeWire in response to court orders (see 2203230040).

The Copyright Office launched the website Thursday for the first U.S. copyright small-claims tribunal. CCB.gov will be the online hub for the Copyright Claims Board (CCB) under the Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement (Case) Act (see 2203250046). The CCB will begin hearing claims this spring.

The Computer & Communications Industry Association looks forward to working with recently confirmed U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director Kathi Vidal to improve patent examination, the association said Wednesday. Computer & Communications Industry Association patent counsel Joshua Landau highlighted the need for high quality patent examination and to “strengthen the IPR system for second-look review of patents that never should have been issued." The Senate confirmed Vidal by voice vote Tuesday.

Continental Automotive representatives warned that limiting part of the 5.9 GHz band exclusively for cellular vehicle-to-everything use could have negative implications because of intellectual property concerns. Continental supports C-V2X technologies and “has every intention of designing and manufacturing automotive parts and components that use C-V2X and the 5.9 GHz band,” the company told an aide to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. Shifting to a sole technology standard “complicates parts suppliers’ ability to license patented technologies included within the standards,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 19-138: “The cellular standard essential patents underlying C-V2X technologies incorporate thousands of patented technologies owned by companies throughout the supply chain, most of whom are not based in the United States. As a factual matter, many of the companies that own such patents refuse to license them to companies such as Continental, or insist only on unfair, unreasonable and discriminatory terms.” If not accompanied by a licensing requirement, Continental and its peers must “use a technology for which they may not be able to obtain the intellectual property licenses needed to remain fully in compliance with the U.S. Patent Laws.”

The Patent and Trademark Office will stop granting requests for participation in the Global Patent Prosecution Highway information-sharing program when the requests are based on work performed by Rospatent, Russia’s agency in charge of intellectual property, said a notice in Monday’s Federal Register. The ban is retroactive to March 11, it said. Pending patent applications linked to Rospatent that received “special status” from PTO under the GPPH before March 11 will lose that status and be returned “to the regular processing and examination queue,” it said. PTO has “terminated engagement” with Rospatent, the Eurasian Patent Organization and patent authorities in Belarus, said the notice. PTO announced last month it would take these steps over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Japan Patent Office, secretariat of the GPPH, was advised of PTO’s decision, it said.

Bungie suffered "nearly incalculable damage" from fake Digital Millennium Copyright Act takedown notices given to YouTube that disrupted the video game developer's players, streamers and fans, it told the U.S. District Court in Seattle Friday in a docket 2:22-cv-00371 complaint seeking unspecified damages and injunctive relief. It said the takedown notices, purportedly issued on behalf of Bungie, targeted videos people had uploaded to YouTube, with Bungie's permission, of them playing Bungie games. The suit is filed against unnamed John Does. Bungie said it would learn their identities through a subpoena and amend the complaint.

The Copyright Office announced a final rule Friday “establishing procedures for the initial stages of a Copyright Claims Board (CCB) proceeding" under the Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement (Case) Act (see 2012290048). The rule addresses claims filings, CCB review, service of notice, CCB notifications on pending proceedings, opt-out provisions and counterclaim filings.

U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar in Oakland scheduled a June 28 case management virtual conference on the complaint by Finnish inventor Lauri Valjakka alleging the Netflix Open Connect program infringes his July 2013 U.S. patent (8,495,167) on data communications networks (see 2203180053). Tigar is the third judge assigned the case (in docket 4:22-cv-1490) since it was transferred March 9 to Northern California from Waco, Texas. U.S. Magistrate Judge Virginia DeMarchi in San Jose immediately recused herself, and a second magistrate judge, Sallie Kim in San Francisco, was removed from the case after Netflix declined Wednesday to have it tried before anyone but a U.S. district judge.