The Trump administration's threat to impose 25 percent tariffs on $50 billion worth of Chinese imports and China's possible retaliatory actions were top of mind for CTA President Gary Shapiro Wednesday at CES Asia. “The challenge with tariffs is that nobody wins, and these threats and the discussion about it causes global economic uncertainty,” he said in Shanghai. The White House announced May 29 that the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will release its final tariffs list by Friday and the tariffs will take effect “shortly thereafter” (see 1805290046). The association disagrees with the administration’s position on tariffs, which Shapiro called “a different approach on tariffs than any in my professional life.” He believes Congress would be in opposition, too, “if they took a vote on it,” he said. Making it a point not to criticize President Donald Trump, “especially outside of U.S. soil,” Shapiro said the issue of tariffs is "potentially very dangerous, especially if you go to the next step, which is a trade war.” Meanwhile, government’s “natural reaction is to regulate,” Shapiro said. He described what he called a scary moment in Europe several weeks ago when the European commissioner responsible for privacy set his sights on regulating artificial intelligence. “I shook,” he said, over the idea of “regulating something without understanding it.” Lawmakers should attend shows like CES and CES Asia to better understand how technology helps improve lives, he said.

The White House said it's aiming to reshape Senate-proposed language for the FY 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (HR-5515) that would retroactively restore a Department of Commerce-imposed seven-year ban on U.S. companies selling telecom software and equipment to ZTE that the department announced last week it planned to suspend in exchange for alternate concessions from the Chinese manufacturer. “The massive penalties imposed on ZTE are part of an historic enforcement action taken by” Commerce, a White House spokeswoman reportedly told the press pool Wednesday. “This will ensure ZTE pays for its violations and gives our government complete oversight of their future activity without undue harm to American suppliers and their workers. The Administration will work with Congress to ensure the final NDAA conference report respects the separation of powers.” Commerce said last week it reached a deal for ZTE to pay $1.4 billion, institute major leadership changes and let U.S. inspectors monitor compliance (see 1806070040). Sens. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., and others successfully included their ZTE language in a manager's amendment for HR-5515 this week (see 1806120001). An earlier House-passed version of the bill also included amendments aimed at countering Trump on ZTE (see 1805240064). Senate votes on the NDAA amendments were Wednesday evening.

The Copyright Office is again extending the deadline for comments on its NPRM on royalty reporting practices of cable operators under Section 111 of the Copyright Act and proposed revisions to the statement of account forms, it said Wednesday. Comments, which had been due June 14, now are due Oct. 4, with replies due Oct. 25. It previously extended the deadline in March (see 1803080051). It said Wednesday this latest extension was to ensure enough time for interested parties to try to reach consensus.

The Senate should pass the Music Modernization Act (S-2823), wrote House Republicans, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Calif., Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, Va., and Doug Collins, Ga., Monday on FoxNews.com (see 1805250036). Collins is lead sponsor of companion legislation that passed his chamber unanimously. “We are on the verge of a historic victory for American music creators, music distributors, and the public -- one that will help sustain the American music industry as it advances,” they wrote.

Roku landed publication Thursday of a U.S. patent application describing an “example apparatus” for skipping portions of content on a streaming device that are “of little or no interest to the user,” using metadata stored in the device’s database for triggering a “skip command.” On-demand availability of content “is commonplace,” but the “electronic and computerized storage and delivery of content offers the potential for far more than just the availability and vanilla playback of content,” said the application (2018/0152489) filed in November 2016, listing CEO Anthony Wood and Vice President-Intellectual Property Joseph Hollinger as inventors. “It is possible to generate content recommendations that are tailored for individual users, as well as to customize the viewing experience to each user's personal preferences.” Existing devices and services “fall short in many areas” in that regard, it said. Many force users to experience content in a “linear manner, requiring them to view portions of content having little or no interest,” it said. “Too often, media systems and services fail to leverage the immense knowledge base of the Internet and other sources when presenting content to users.” Though streaming content may be readily available on an on-demand basis, “related information is not, at least not in an easily accessible manner,” it said.

The International Trade Commission seeks comment by June 18 on a potential limited exclusion order banning import by Sigma and Vizio of semiconductor devices used in consumer audiovisual devices that infringe patents held by Broadcom, it says in Thursday's Federal Register. The ITC began its underlying Tariff Act Section 337 investigation in 2017, based on allegations that Sigma, Vizio and several other companies are making and using system-on-chip and similar processing components and circuits for digital TVs, set-top boxes, Blu-Ray disc players, DVD players/recorders, DTV/DVD combinations, multimedia streaming players, home theater systems and other such audiovisual devices and systems. The ITC is also considering a cease and desist order against Vizio. That company didn't comment Wednesday. Silicon Labs declined to comment on specifics of the complaint. The company bought Z-Wave assets of Sigma Designs in April (see 1804180064), a Silicon Labs spokesman noted. "This ITC matter relates to Sigma’s video products. We did not buy those products from Sigma, and therefore we have no involvement in this matter." Sigma didn't comment.

The Content Creators Coalition asked Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., to stop pushing alternative music copyright legislation as the Senate Judiciary Committee considers a package of bills on the topic (see 1805230068). The Compensating Legacy Artists for Their Songs, Service and Important Contributions to Society, (Classics) Act portion of the package, which Wyden seeks to replace, corrects what some see as royalty injustices against legacy artists. The coalition is running ads in favor of the Classics Act over Wyden’s Accessibility for Curators, Creators, Educators, Scholars and Society (Access) to Recordings Act. Wyden’s office didn’t comment.

Apple’s win last week against Samsung in its long-running patent infringement case shows “a growing consensus on how district courts will instruct juries regarding design patent damages,” blogged patent litigation law firm Fitzpatrick. That followed a jury’s determination in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California that Samsung owes Apple $140 million more in the seven-year case. The district court instructed the jury to consider four factors, said Fitzgerald: (1) the scope of the claimed design, including the drawings and written description provided by the design patent; (2) the relative prominence of the design within the infringing product as a whole; (3) whether the design is conceptually distinct from the product as a whole; and (4) the physical relationship between the patented design and the rest of the product, including whether the design pertains to a physically separable, separately sold, or separately manufactured component. Apple was awarded $399 million in 2012 after Samsung was found liable for copying patented Apple smartphone features, but a retrial was allowed due to a disagreement over damages. In December 2016 (see 1612060061) the Supreme Court ruled for Samsung, saying a federal appeals court had to further reduce damages Samsung owed after it lost the 2012 lawsuit. In its appeal, Samsung claimed the Federal Circuit erred in saying it owed damages on the total profit gained from an infringing device instead of the value of the infringing components. Last week’s jury award brings the total to $539 million that Samsung owes Apple for patent infringement. “Today’s decision flies in the face of a unanimous Supreme Court ruling in favor of Samsung on the scope of design patent damages,” said Samsung in a statement. “We will consider all options to obtain an outcome that does not hinder creativity and fair competition for all companies and consumers.” Apple, meanwhile, said: "We believe deeply in the value of design, and our teams work tirelessly to create innovative products that delight our customers. This case has always been about more than money. Apple ignited the smartphone revolution with iPhone and it is a fact that Samsung blatantly copied our design.”

The International Trade Commission launched a Tariff Act Section 337 investigation into allegations from NEC that Xtera and its assembler MC Assembly are importing submarine telecom systems that infringe its patents, the ITC said in a May 18 news release. NEC filed its complaint April 20 (see 1804270051) after instituting a separate Section 337 investigation in January that covers NEC subsea systems (see 1801240011). NEC alleges Xtera’s Nu-Wave Optima, Flexible Gateway Family, Open System Gateway and Virtual Fiber Gateway series of submarine telecom systems infringe its patents. The ITC will consider whether to issue a limited exclusion order and cease and desist orders banning importation and sale of infringing merchandise by Xtera, MC Assembly and MC Test Service. Xtera didn't comment Thursday.

Reps. Steve Chabot, R-Ohio, and Hank Johnson, D-Ga., introduced legislation Tuesday that would maintain Patent and Trademark Office fee-setting authority. In exchange, PTO would implement modern IT systems and big-data analytics. CTA CEO Gary Shapiro urged Congress to protect “critical” PTO programs like inter partes review (IPR) from “special interest attacks” and applauded the bill’s introduction. The bill drew cheers from Software & Information Industry Association Senior Vice President-Public Policy Mark MacCarthy. PTO Director Andrei Iancu told the House Judiciary Committee during a hearing Tuesday that since enactment of the America Invents Act, fee setting authority allowed the agency to operate more efficiently and recoup necessary costs. He suggested the committee work with the PTO to maintain that authority. Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said the committee’s efforts to “deter patent trolling” through the America Invents Act “have been a resounding success.” The legislation and the recent court decisions “deprived patent trolls of many of the weapons they use to extort payments from innocent companies,” he said. The High Tech Inventors Alliance urged the committee to uphold the America Invents Act, the IPR process and precedents established by recent patent-related Supreme Court cases. IPR is working as Congress intended by allowing the PTO to fully assess patents and correct mistakes without litigation, HTIA General Counsel John Thorne said: “This vital mechanism along with recent unanimous Supreme Court rulings, such as the Alice decision (see 1804180073), apply to invalid patents that never should have been issued in the first place and are the primary fuel for abuse of the patent system.”