The International Trade Commission has instituted a section 337 patent-based investigation of certain digital imaging devices and related software, pursuant to a complaint (Inv. No. 337-TA-717).

HyperCube and Level 3 continued to trade jabs over a decision proposed to the California Public Utility Commission by an administrative law judge (CD May 11 p10). In reply comments filed Tuesday on Judge Regina DeAngelis’s April 16 proposal regarding the companies’ dispute over tandem access charges, each challenged the other’s arguments.

The International Trade Administration frequently issues notices on antidumping and countervailing duty orders, investigations, etc. which Broker Power considers to be "minor” in importance as they concern actions that occur after an order is issued, neither announce nor cause any changes to an order’s duty rates, scope, affected firms, or effective period, etc.

Koss Corp. sued American Express to recover some of the $31.4 million that prosecutors allege a former Koss vice president of finance embezzled from the company the past six fiscal years (CED Feb 2 p1). The former executive, Sujata “Sue” Sachdeva, remains free on $50,000 bond awaiting trial on the charges. She has pleaded not guilty. The allegations against Sachdeva came to light just before Christmas, when American Express investigators alerted Koss that the balances on Sachdeva’s personal credit-card accounts were being paid down through “numerous large wire transfers” from Koss bank accounts in Chicago and Milwaukee, court documents said. But in its complaint alleging the aiding and abetting of fraud, Koss says AmEx “did little to no investigation into the improper transactions.” AmEx repeatedly “approved these fraudulent payments so that Sachdeva, who had grown to be one of AMEX’s premier customers, could continue to use her American Express charge cards at a rate of approximately $1,000,000 a month, thus enriching Defendant AMEX at the expense of Koss,” the complaint says. Koss has not responded to our inquiries about how such large unauthorized transactions could have taken place undiscovered so long. AmEx has moved to have the suit dismissed, saying Koss, “a publicly traded company with internal accounting controls and outside auditors, incredibly never discovered this massive fraud on its own.” If not for AmEx, “Sachdeva’s fraud might have continued indefinitely,” it told the court. “But instead of thanking American Express for helping to end Sachdeva’s criminal activity, Koss filed this lawsuit.” The companies disagree about where the lawsuit should be tried. Koss originally filed the complaint in an Arizona state court and wants the case remanded there. AmEx won removal of the case to the U.S. District Court in Phoenix and wants to keep it there.

China’s policy of promoting its own homegrown intellectual-property industries at the expense of those trying to make inroads in the country drew the top concern in the U.S. Trade Representative’s Special 301 report on IP protection, released Friday. Also earning criticism were Spain and Canada for lax policies on punishing Internet piracy.

China’s policy of promoting its own homegrown intellectual-property industries at the expense of those trying to make inroads in the country drew the top concern in the U.S. Trade Representative’s Special 301 report on IP protection, released Friday. Also earning criticism were Spain and Canada for lax policies on punishing Internet piracy. But Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic were dropped from USTR’s “watch list” altogether, largely because of improved enforcement at borders, street markets and online. IP industries generally praised the report, while a public interest group said USTR should make transparent its factors in designating countries.

The International Trade Commission has instituted a section 337 patent-based investigation of certain game controllers, pursuant to a complaint (Inv. No. 337-TA-715).

The International Trade Commission has instituted a section 337 patent-based investigation of certain large scale integrated circuit semiconductor chips and products containing the same, pursuant to a complaint (Inv. No. 337-TA-716).

The International Trade Administration has initiated administrative reviews of the antidumping duty orders below, for certain specified companies listed in the initiation notice.

Companies large and small, public interest groups and trade associations offered a divided FCC very different takes on whether proposed net neutrality rules would stifle or spur competition, in replies in the net neutrality proceeding. The biggest change from the first comment round, in January, is that many filers focused on the Comcast decision and the complicated question of whether the FCC has authority to proceed with new net neutrality rules or first would have to change the way broadband is classified to gain clear authority.