Nintendo of America will “vigorously defend” itself, a company spokesman said after the U.S. International Trade Commission announced it will investigate the importation of the Wii console and remote based on a patent-infringement complaint filed last month by Hillcrest Labs (CED Aug 21 p8).
The International Trade Commission has instituted a section 337 investigation of certain cast steel railway wheels, certain processes for manufacturing or relating to same and certain products containing same pursuant to a complaint.
The West Virginia Consumer Advocate Division (CAD) urged state regulators to deny a Verizon request to shield from public view certain confidential business information Verizon filed in a Public Service Commission investigation into the telco’s service quality. Verizon sought a protective order for what it called “proprietary and confidential” business information on network expenses and investment, asset categories and accounts, wire center access line breakouts by customer class, internal network operation reports and network operation practices. But the CAD said the state’s freedom of information (FOIA) law sets a much tighter standard than federal law in defining trade secrets that are immune from public disclosure. The CAD said the information Verizon seeks to shield isn’t a trade secret as defined by the state FOIA law, so its request for a shield should be denied. The CAD said that if the state legislature had wanted to mirror federal FOIA laws, it would have done so. The PSC (Case 08-0761-T-GI) is investigating staff and CAD complaints that Verizon service quality has deteriorated sharply over the last three years.
Provisions to let the Justice Department seize computers used for P2P infringement (WID July 25 p3) were weakened in the amended Enforcement of Intellectual Property Act (S- 3325), passed 14-4 by the Senate Judiciary Committee in an unusually brief markup Thursday. The bill still lets the agency sue file-sharers, though. A manager’s amendment directs a court that’s hearing an infringement case to “enter an appropriate protective order” to impound records to ensure that sensitive information isn’t disclosed. Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said the committee “very recently” heard concerns about the “privacy interests of innocent third parties” when the government seizes servers. The amendment requires formation of an “advisory committee” for the intellectual property enforcement coordinator created in the original bill. Its Senate-confirmed members would include representatives of the Office of Management and Budget, DoJ, the Patent and Trademark Office, the Office of U.S. Trade Representative, the Copyright Office, the departments of State and Homeland Security, the Food and Drug Administration and some component agencies. The words “piracy” and its variants were replaced with “infringement.” The amendment would ensure that at least two assistant U.S. attorneys are assigned to each office with a computer hacking and intellectual property crime unit. An approved amendment by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, would repeal the section of the law creating the National Intellectual Property Law Enforcement Coordination Council but let the new coordinator called for by the bill use the phased-out council’s services and personnel to ensure an “orderly transition.”
The International Trade Commission has instituted a section 337 patent-based investigation of certain peripheral devices and components thereof and products containing the same pursuant to a complaint.
The International Trade Administration and the International Trade Commission have each issued notices initiating automatic five-year Sunset Reviews on the above-listed antidumping duty order.
The International Trade Commission has instituted a section 337 patent-based investigation of certain base stations and wireless microphones pursuant to a complaint.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued an interim rule, which adds a new 19 CFR 12.142 requiring additional data elements, declarations, and recordkeeping requirements for certain imports of softwood lumber and softwood lumber products exported from any country into the U.S.
In ThyssenKrupp Acciai Speciali Terni S.P.A. et. al. v. U.S. et al., the Court of International Trade denied the U.S.' motion to dismiss two counts of a four-count complaint involving the International Trade Administration's (ITA) Section 129 determination on the 1999 Antidumping Order applicable to ThyssenKrupp's stainless steel sheet and strips (SSSS) from Italy.
Nintendo’s Wii legal troubles mounted Wednesday as Hillcrest Labs became the latest company to sue the console maker on patent-infringement allegations. Hillcrest filed separate complaints with the U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington, D.C., and a U.S. district court in Maryland. The Rockville, Md., technology company claimed Nintendo violated four pieces of Hillcrest’s intellectual property: U.S. Patent Nos. 7,158,118, 7,262,760, and 7,414,611 relating to a handheld 3D pointing device, and U.S. Patent No. 7,139,983 relating to a navigation interface display system that graphically organizes content for display on a TV. Since 2001, Hillcrest has offered technology that would allow consumers to interact with digital media on TVs using motion-control and pointing techniques, it said, saying it holds 29 patents in this area worldwide and has filed for more than 100 related patents. CE companies, not all publicly disclosed, have licensed Hillcrest’s technology for use in their products. Hillcrest said it “has a great deal of respect for Nintendo and the Wii,” but said it believes “Nintendo is in clear violation of its patents and has taken this action to protect its intellectual property rights.” Comment wasn’t immediately available from Nintendo of America. Nintendo was found to have infringed Anascape patents for vibration technology (CED May 16 p7). Last month, U.S. District Court Judge Ron Clark in Lufkin, Texas, put on hold an injunction covering Wii Classic Controllers, the GameCube controller and the GameCube Wavebird wireless controller in that case after Nintendo promised to appeal to the Federal Circuit (CED July 25 p4).