Other Barks for Wednesday, March 8th, 2017

In this week’s edition of Other Barks – A growing Chinese consumer electronics firm acquires a patent portfolio which makes them the fourth global producer of smartphones with the capacity to develop semiconductors in-house. The Supreme Court denies writ in a case, leaving in place a lower court’s decision on plaintiff standing in asserting foreign trademarks in the U.S. The Federal Circuit upholds patent invalidations levied against IP monetization firm Intellectual Ventures. Also, songwriter industry groups lobby the Copyright Office to adjust royalty fee structures in light of the growth of online streaming media.

If you have news you’d like to see in next week’s Other Barks & Bites,  CLICK HERE.

  • Songwriter Groups Petition U.S. Copyright Office for Better Streaming Royalties – Today, a hearing at the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) will feature representatives from the songwriting industry who will ask the board to consider a new standard for royalty rates paid by online music streaming services like Spotify or Pandora, according to a Tuesday report from Bloomberg. Quotes published by Bloomberg from songwriter industry representatives indicate that groups will ask the CRB to consider moving from a structure based on revenues to a per-stream royalty structure. (Link to Bloomberg report on today’s hearing at the CRB)
  • Italian Copyright Case Forces Facebook to Turn Off Location-Sharing Feature – On Monday, March 6th, Reuters reported on a decision in Italian court from last August that was only recently made public in which an Italian software development firm successfully argued that American social media giant Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) copied an application which helped Facebook users connect with friends in the vicinity. The suit from Italy-based Business Competence, filed in 2013, argued that Facebook incorporated features of the company’s Faround app into Facebook’s Nearby feature. Reuters reports that Facebook was ordered to stop operating the Nearby feature or pay 5,000 euros per day, and that an additional hearing in the matter is scheduled for April 4th. (Link to Reuters report on Italian copyright suit targeting Facebook)
  • This Week on Wall Street – It’s a very light week in terms of patenting firms reporting quarterly earnings and the first significant release doesn’t come until Thursday. German chemical company Merck KGaA (ETR:MRK) will report its earnings for the fourth quarter of 2016 on that day. In 2015, Merck’s patent holding subsidiary placed 167th overall by earning a total of 199 U.S. patents that year, according to the Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO). Friday will also see fourth quarter earnings from Taiwanese power supply and component developer Delta Electronics, Inc. (TPE:2308); Delta placed 195th overall in 2015 with 166 U.S. patents earned that year.

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3 comments so far.

  • [Avatar for American Cowboy]
    American Cowboy
    March 8, 2017 02:52 pm

    I feared as much. Woof!

  • [Avatar for Gene Quinn]
    Gene Quinn
    March 8, 2017 09:32 am

    AC-

    It was pointed out to me on Twitter that PatentlyO’s news roundup is named Bits & Bytes, which I should have thought of when we adopted the name Other Barks & Bites. I like the name Other Barks & Bites, but don’t want to be perceived as stealing any thunder from Dennis. That wasn’t the point.

    -Gene

  • [Avatar for American Cowboy]
    American Cowboy
    March 8, 2017 09:26 am

    What? All bark and no bite?