The International Trade Commission voted Aug. 8 to open a modification proceeding on Google’s July 14 petition that Pixel smartphones, tablets, laptops and other devices installed with a new “device utility app” no longer infringe an October 2019 Sonos patent (10,439,896) on wirelessly connecting devices in a home network and should be removed from standing cease and desist and limited exclusion orders, said a notice for Friday’s Federal Register. Sonos filed an opposition to Google’s petition July 25, said the notice. The ITC has assigned the proceeding to Chief Administrative Law Judge Clark Cheney, who will render a “recommended determination” by Feb. 13, it said. Customs and Border Protection ruled in June that some Google device imports continued to infringe Sonos multiroom audio patents in violation of the ITC’s Jan. 6 import ban, ordering Google to disable the original device utility app in those devices and install a new app (see 2206290001).
Public interest statements are due Aug. 23 in two potential Section 337 investigations into imported voice controllable audio player devices by the International Trade Commission, according to a pair of Federal Register notices (ITC Inv. Nos. 337-TA-3634 and -3635). The solicitation follows the Aug. 9 receipt by the ITC of two complaints by Google alleging infringement of seven of its patents by Sonos.
Commerce erred in its calculations of countervailable subsidies in an administrative review on multilayered wood flooring from China, which led to a higher rate for non-individually reviewed average rate respondents, Zhejiang Dadongwu Greenhome Wood said in an Aug. 9 complaint filed to the Court of International Trade. In the review, Commerce calculated countervailable subsidy rates for the two mandatory respondents -- 12.74% and 3.36% -- and 9.85% for non-selected companies, including GreenHome. GreenHome said that Commerce incorrectly calculated the subsidy rates during the review and has asked the court to remand the case to Commerce for a redetermination.
Sonos’ fiscal Q3 revenue slipped 1.8% year on year to $371.8 million for the quarter ended July 2, the company said Wednesday. It swung to a net loss of $600,000 vs. net income of $17.8 million in the year-earlier quarter.
Remand redeterminations recently submitted by the Commerce Department in two related cases are not final agency decisions that can be sustained by the Court of International Trade, and doing so would circumvent the trade court’s judicial review process, CIT said in a pair of Aug. 10 decisions rejecting the remand results in a case involving a scope ruling on door thresholds.
Two importers each will pay seven-figure sums to settle False Claims Act lawsuits related to the undervaluation of their customs entries and underpayment of duties, DOJ said Aug. 11. Apparel importer Luchiano Visconti and its manager, Sasha Hourizadeh, will together pay $3.64 million to settle allegations they sent fraudulent invoices to their customs broker that understated the actual price paid. In a separate settlement, Eos Energy Storage will pay $1.02 million to resolve allegations that it failed to declare assists and other additions to transaction value.
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S.’s annual report to Congress (see 2208020043) shows CFIUS is reviewing record numbers of investments and sheds light on how the Biden administration is approaching screening efforts, especially surrounding Chinese companies, law firms said. The report also indicates that companies should expect even more government scrutiny of foreign direct investments in coming years, firms said, including for non-notified transactions.
Contrary to Google assertions in a complaint Monday against Sonos in U.S. District Court in San Francisco that it “rarely sues” other companies for patent infringement (see 2208090010), Google previously sued Sonos “all over the world and Sonos has prevailed in every decided case,” said Sonos Chief Legal Officer Eddie Lazarus in a statement Tuesday. “By contrast, the courts have repeatedly validated Sonos’ claims that Google is infringing its core patented smart speaker technology,” said Lazarus. Google’s new litigation is “an intimidation tactic designed to retaliate against Sonos for speaking out against Google’s monopolistic practices,” he said. Google has avoided paying Sonos “a fair royalty for the roughly 200 patents it is currently infringing,” and keeps attempting to “grind down a smaller competitor whose innovations it has misappropriated,” he said. “It will not succeed." Google followed through with threats to bring Sonos before the International Trade Commission, filing two complaints Tuesday (in dockets 337-3634 and 337-3635) alleging infringement of a total of seven patents. The complaints seek separate Tariff Act Section 337 investigations into the allegations. They ask for cease and desist and limited exclusion orders on Sonos audio players with Sonos Voice Control, plus those that support wired or wireless charging or the “commissioning of devices into a system via short-range transmissions.”
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
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