“Financial impacts” of the French digital services tax and DST “implications for the US tax base” worry the tech industry, posted international tax law expert Gary Sprague with Baker McKenzie in docket USTR-2019-0009. Sprague asked to testify for Amazon, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and others at the hearing Tuesday on the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative’s December finding that France’s DST discriminates against U.S. companies (see 1912030002). USTR is proposing to slap up to 100 percent retaliatory tariffs on 63 subheadings of French imports worth about $2.4 billion in 2018 customs value. Tech “strongly" backs the work of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development to draft a “consensus solution” that would obviate the need for the French DST and similar other tax remedies that can harm U.S. interests, said Sprague. France's tax has “encouraged several other countries to pursue similar discriminatory taxes,” said Sprague, a member of the OECD technical advisory group studying the treatment of e-commerce revenue in tax treaties. The vast majority of the hundreds who have requested to testify are wine importers opposing the proposed tariffs on French goods. Written comments on USTR's proposed tariffs are due Monday. Post-hearing rebuttals are due Jan. 14.

A Long Island cardiologist accused Apple of stealing his atrial fibrillation-detection invention and building it into the Apple Watch. Joseph Wiesel, a board-certified cardiologist on the faculty of the New York University School of Medicine, landed a March 2006 patent for an “innovative approach” that “allowed patients to properly monitor atrial fibrillation in a non-hospital setting,” said his complaint (in Pacer) Friday in U.S. District Court in Central Islip, New York. “Prior to this, patients could only use manual palpation of the pulse to detect atrial fibrillation,” it said. Apple had “indisputable actual knowledge” of the patent since “at least as early” as September 2017 when it introduced the Series 4 Apple Watch with embedded atrial fibrillation-detection technology, said the complaint. That’s also when Wiesel first “engaged” Apple, “through numerous letters and claim charts,” with notice of its infringing practices, the complaint said. Apple since has compounded its bad behavior by introducing the technology into the Series 5, “but also updating the software on the existing legacy Series 1, 2, and 3 Apple Watches to enable the infringing features,” it alleged. Apple has “refused to negotiate in good faith to avoid this lawsuit,” it said. Apple’s actions, “despite continued warnings,” are evidence of a “willful disregard” of Wiesel’s rights “and a desire to profit irrespective of U.S. patent laws,” it said. Wiesel seeks “recovery of past damages” through payment of a “reasonable royalty” and is "entitled" to license fees on Apple Watch shipments on “a going-forward basis,” it said. Apple didn’t comment Tuesday.

The International Trade Commission won’t review an administrative law judge’s decision terminating a Tariff Act Section 337 investigation based on a complaint alleging goods from Apple, Broadcom, Lenovo and other tech firms infringe four GlobalFoundries patents, said a notice in Monday’s Federal Register. The judge terminated the probe Nov. 25, based on a settlement agreement GlobalFoundries reached with the tech firms earlier in the fall, said the notice.

Sonos can’t move outside China “in any reasonable or efficient manner” production of the wireless mesh network speakers it seeks exclusion from the List 4A tariffs, posted the vendor Wednesday in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative public docket. Sonos estimates it would cost more than $15 million and take about two years to find alternative sourcing. There's “no other single market in the world” for such production, said the company, and “fragmenting our supply chain across several countries is inefficient." It imports the products under the 8517.62.00.90 heading covering a broad swatch of consumer tech products including smartwatches.

TiVo and Xperi agreed to combine. The $3 billion stock deal is expected to close in Q2 and shares of TiVo rose while Xperi fell after Thursday's announcement. TiVo will suspend plans to separate its product and intellectual property licensing. “Potential” separation could occur later, they said. The product business expects to pursue "substantial cross-selling opportunities" in home and automotive. The combined company will be one of the largest licensing companies, spanning entertainment content, consumer electronics and semiconductors, management said. Patents and applications total more than 10,000, with “minimal licensee overlap,” they said. Xperi CEO Jon Kirchner noted the growing challenge of content discovery in home entertainment due to the proliferation of streaming offerings and providers: Their IP portfolio and personalization expertise will “address this challenge and participate over a much broader part of the entertainment value chain.” It’s no longer just live TV vs. Netflix, said TiVo CEO David Shull. He will be a strategic adviser during integration; for other executives, see the personals section of this publication's issue. “Virtually every traditional content provider has their own direct-to-to-consumer offering in the works,” Shull said, while streaming companies are developing content libraries. The combined firm's products will give MVPDs "a very differentiated offering,” Shull forecast. Xperi is launching a next-generation radio solution, Kirchner said, with a video offering next up. Content discovery and playback will be even more important in the age of semi- and autonomous vehicles, he said. Xperi Chief Financial Officer Robert Andersen noted its relationships with the top 10 TV brands that will offer licensing access for TiVo content discovery and personalization. He will continue as CFO. Xperi closed down 11 percent at $18.63. TiVo rose 6.2 percent to $8.38.

No special rules limit remedies for standards-essential patent (SEP) infringement, regardless of fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory (FRAND) commitments, DOJ said Thursday. It was a joint policy statement with the Patent and Trademark Office and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The agencies noted that the “rejection of a special set of legal rules that limit remedies for infringement of standards-essential patents subject to a F/RAND commitment is also consistent with the holdings of the U.S. courts to date.” The Supreme Court’s 2016 eBay decision “made clear that traditional principles of equity apply in determining whether an injunction should issue in any patent case in federal court,” they said.

Comments are due Dec. 26 on the import ban Philips seeks at the International Trade Commission on Garmin and Fitbit wearable monitoring devices that allegedly infringe its patents (see 1912120031), said a notice in Tuesday’s Federal Register. Manufactured by Ingram Micro, Maintek Computer and Inventec Appliances in China, the Garmin and Fitbit activity trackers copy the patented designs of Philips’ GoSafe and HomeSafe motion biosensor and sleep diagnostics products, Philips said. It seeks a limited exclusion order and cease and desist orders against Garmin, Fitbit and the three Chinese manufacturers. "Fitbit plans to defend itself vigorously against all allegations made in the complaint," a spokesperson told us Wednesday. A Garmin spokesperson said the company doesn't comment on pending or ongoing litigation.

Expanding export administration regulation limits to further control foreign shipments to Huawei would have a “dramatic” impact on international supply chains, said Kevin Wolf, a trade lawyer with Akin Gump. The actions, which the Commerce Department is considering (see 1912110039), include expanding the direct product rule and broadening the de minimis rule. “This is a really, really big deal,” said Wolf Friday in Boston on a Massachusetts Export Center panel. “The collateral, psychological effect of this, I fear, is really going to be quite dramatic.” The changes could apply to foreign-made items that contain U.S.-origin content not controlled for national security reasons. They wouldn't apply to dual-use goods and sensitive technologies, just consumer goods, Wolf said. The rule may apply to “wholly formed made items that no other country controls, creating a jurisdictional rule for foreign companies” when selling to Huawei that would likely be difficult to comply with, he said. The rule would make dealing with foreign-made U.S. content and technology “very frustrating and difficult for foreign companies,” Wolf said, which may have a ripple effect.

The “Do Not Disturb” feature in Apple’s iOS 11 operating system infringes a nearly five-year-old patent for technology to curb distracted driving, alleged a complaint (in Pacer) Friday in U.S. District Court in San Jose. Bay Area restaurateur Nick Bovis, owner of Lefty O’Doul’s and the Broadway Grill, invented a mobile device solution he called “inactive mode” for curbing distracted driving without forcing users to turn off their phones and risk missing important calls or texts, said the complaint. The mode notifies the sender that the recipient is driving and not available to take calls or texts, then generates for the recipient a log of missed communications when the mode is deactivated, it said. Bovis landed a February 2015 patent (8,958,853) and built the technology into an app he called “Off Mode,” available for download at the Google Play store since May 2013, it said. Apple launched Do Not Disturb in iOS in September 2017 with the “same features," said the complaint. It’s “inconceivable that Apple did not know” about the Bovis patent when it launched Do Not Disturb, it said. Instead of licensing the technology from Bovis for a “reasonable royalty,” Apple “helped itself” to the invention and paid him “no compensation,” it said. Apple didn't comment.

Samsung Electronics applied to register “Samsung Ultra Thin Glass” Dec. 5 as a U.S. trademark, Patent and Trademark Office records show. The trademark would apply to a wide variety of display panels, said the application. The company is expected to use ultra-thin glass as the cover material for the next generation of its Galaxy Fold smartphones (see 1907250030). The current Galaxy Fold uses a colorless polyimide film plus a hard coat as its cover material, but the polymer coating is much less durable and scratch-resistant than glass, say analysts. Samsung didn’t comment Thursday.