Critics of Nokia’s complaint seeking an exclusion order on allegedly infringing Lenovo devices “fail to raise any cognizable” concerns that “merit burdening” the International Trade Commission with a “fact finding” on public interest implications of an import ban, replied Nokia Wednesday (login required) in docket 337-3466. The issues unique to the standard-essential patents (SEPs) on H.264 video compression asserted in Nokia’s complaint justify building a public interest record, argued the App Association, the Computer & Communications Industry Association and Google (see report, July 21 issue). Banning the Lenovo goods couldn’t come at a worse time, with the COVID-19 pandemic taxing supplies of laptops and tablets, said critics. Nokia countered the “accused Lenovo products are a small fraction of the U.S. supply.” Any void “could easily be replaced by over a dozen competing makers, including Microsoft, Samsung, and Dell,” it said. It’s untrue, as CCIA “boldly argues,” that "the ITC is never a proper forum for investigating” infringement of any SEP, said Nokia. “Such a prohibition would be a drastic shift” from policy, it said. “Exclusion orders must be available as a remedy for SEP holders to maintain a balanced patent system and avoid harming innovation and competition,” the company said. A Dec. 19 joint policy statement from DOJ, the National Institute of Standards and Technology and Patent and Trademark Office supports that, it said.

NAB CEO Gordon Smith praised the Washington, D.C., Council Thursday for approving an amendment that would remove a new tax on local businesses that buy advertising on TV, in print or on digital outlets. The 3% sales tax “would have placed an undue burden on small businesses and local media already struggling amidst the pandemic,” Smith said. “This should serve as an example for other local governments that such misguided taxes on advertising are counterproductive in stimulating local economies and will continue to be met with fervent opposition.” The amendment, circulated by Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D), rearranges funding sources and cuts spending to cover the $18.4 million projected to be raised by the tax. Mendelson, who proposed the tax, said in a statement it's a policy choice he now regrets.

The top Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee supports extending Trade Act Section 301 tariff exclusions on Chinese imports automatically instead of through burdensome notice and comment proceedings, he told reporters Wednesday. The Trump administration should alleviate “the energy and effort that businesses have to undertake to extend these exclusions right now when they frankly have bigger fish to fry,” said Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas. He said he expressed his views to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. Brady supports bipartisan legislation sponsored by fellow Ways and Means member Rep. Jackie Walorski, R-Ind., and House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson, D-Minn., that would direct USTR to extend expiring exclusions for at least a year, but would give the agency some discretion when it disagrees (see 2007170050). U.S. businesses should be “focused on surviving” the COVID-19 pandemic and keeping people employed instead of scrambling to find non-Chinese sourcing or arguing for an exclusion extension, Brady said. USTR and Commerce didn’t comment Thursday.

Industry and regulators should collect more data on broadband network quality and affordability to help address digital redlining, said speakers on a Public Knowledge webinar Thursday. Inequitable broadband deployment and infrastructure in impoverished neighborhoods contribute to the digital divide, said Daiquiri Ryan, National Hispanic Media Coalition strategic legal adviser. She said "lots of vulnerable communities are still reliant on older copper lines," which often aren't well maintained. Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council CEO Maurita Coley said better research and data are needed so policymakers can surgically target broadband where the need is greatest. "There's no federal money for digital inclusion efforts," said Angela Siefer, National Digital Inclusion Alliance executive director. She said big cities like Chicago have been able to secure funding from donors, "but what about smaller communities?" Lukas Pietrzak, Next Century Cities policy associate, said some cities with already degraded networks have had as much as 40% of broadband traffic fall below stated performance standards during the pandemic, citing New Orleans.

AT&T continues to see big pandemic challenges and believes effects will long linger, executives said Thursday as it became the first national wireless carrier to report Q2 earnings. “We’re planning and operating under the assumption that significant accommodations for COVID will be the business norm well into next year,” said CEO John Stankey on an investor call. The stock closed 0.9% lower Thursday at $29.90. Verizon reports results Friday.

Backing Charter Communications' ask the FCC sunset two Time Warner Cable-Bright House Networks transaction conditions in May (see 2006180050) are free-market and small-government advocacy groups, swarms of local business groups and local elected officials. Opponents are primarily public interest groups, as expected (see 2007090009), in docket 16-197 postings Thursday. Replies are due Aug. 6.

Bids stood at $357 million after the first, six-hour round of the citizens broadband radio service priority access license auction Thursday. The FCC has two bidding rounds scheduled for Friday. Industry officials are watching the auction closely as an expression of interest in the 3.5 GHz shared band.

The FCC will allow staffers who are teleworking to continue doing so until at least June, regardless of location, said a Friday emailed memo to staff from Chairman Ajit Pai’s Chief of Staff Matthew Berry “We want to provide those with concerns ranging from childcare to their own health with the peace of mind that they will have the flexibility they need over the coming months.” The decision was made “in light of recent announcements by school districts as well as the ongoing nature of the pandemic.”

Six of the country’s largest radio groups will pay no monetary penalty for repeated political file obligations because of the COVID-19 pandemic’s effects on the radio industry, said a release and consent decrees on settlements for iHeartRadio, Cumulus, Entercom, Beasley, Alpha and Salem. “We recognize that this period has placed the radio broadcast industry as a whole under significant financial stress from a dramatic reduction in advertising revenues,” the consent decrees say as a reason for the lack of civil penalty. Most also point to the broadcasters having confessed to the violations as a reason for the light punishment, but Entercom’s were discovered through a complaint and FCC investigation and still won’t involve a penalty. Of Entercom’s 234 stations, 196 were found to have political file violations, the Entercom consent decree said. The other consent decrees said the broadcast groups notified the FCC of multiple violations among their stations, but don’t provide further details on the scope of the violations. “In February 2020, iHeart voluntarily informed the Bureau that many of its stations had not routinely been uploading records of requests for the purchase of political broadcast time in a timely manner,” is a representative example. The groups committed to best practices and compliance plans and improved their political file compliance in 2020 during the pandemic, the consent decrees said. The compliance plans require the broadcasters to file reports on political file compliance through December 2021. “It is critical that information about political advertising is transparent to the public and candidates for office,” said Media Bureau Chief Michelle Carey. “Adherence to the requirements in the consent decrees will ensure compliance with the online political file rules during this election year.” The current FCC “has found several creative ways to use the COVID-19 pandemic to allow broadcasters to avoid compliance with the rules and, now, to exculpate them from violations,” emailed Andrew Schwartzman, Benton Institute for Broadband & Society senior counselor. He represented transparency groups bringing complaints about broadcast political file obligations in the past. “Even with these wrist slaps, the Commission is at least showing broadcasters that they must pay attention to the political file rules,” he said. The broadcasters didn’t comment.

The $38 million in Trade Act Section 301 tariff costs iRobot incurred in 2019 inflicted a hit of 3 percentage points on its gross margin for the year, said CEO Colin Angle. IRobot assumes the List 3 tariff exclusion that landed last month on the robotic vacuum cleaners it sources from China will expire at the end of 2020, he said. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer “made it quite explicit” in congressional testimony last month that any granted List 3 exemptions “would expire at the end of the year,” said Angle Wednesday after quarterly results. The company’s “cash position” improved when it recently started receiving “cash payments associated with our tariff refunds” from the Trump administration, said Chief Financial Officer Julie Zeiler. “We anticipate receiving the $57 million in tariff-related refunds owed to us over the next 12 months.” IRobot is “continuing to push with all energy to drive the diversification of our manufacturing base,” said Angle. Delay in shifting production to Malaysia and bringing it to scale “has been one of the impacts of COVID-19,” he said. “There’s travel bans in place” that inhibit “sending people into Malaysia, which has created a delay,” he said. The company is trying to get that work “back on track,” he said. “We do believe that by the end of 2021, we’ll be in a situation where we are effectively geographically diversified and U.S.-China trade policy does not substantially affect our business anymore.” Europe is the region most reliant on brick-and-mortar, and stores were shuttered for much of the quarter, he said. Europe’s e-commerce infrastructure also is less “mature” and the system buckled under the weight of demand for essential products during the pandemic, he said. E-commerce revenue grew about 50% in Q2 from the year-ago quarter and was more than 70% of total quarterly revenue, said Angle. IRobot stock closed $79.35, down 7.49%.