Mad Catz Interactive revealed in a slightly delayed 10-K SEC filing after our Tues. deadline that Freedom Wave sued it in U.S. Dist. Court, Cal., alleging that certain Mad Catz products infringed on Freedom patents 6,878,066 and 6,280,327. Mad Catz denied the allegation. It said the case was “still in the early stages and no discovery has been requested by either party.” No trial date is set, it said. Mad Catz said “we intend to vigorously defend the allegations of the complaint” but “there can be no guarantee that we will ultimately prevail or that damages will not be assessed” against it. The accessory maker warned that “an adverse determination by the court or jury could seriously impact our revenues and our ability to continue to distribute the GameShark products.” The company also said a trial date was set for Aug. 31 in its court battle with rival Electro Source (Pelican). The company sued Mad Catz and Fire International in early 2003 in L.A. Superior Court. In an amended complaint filed in Nov. 2003, Electro Source accused Mad Catz of misappropriation of trade secrets and other acts relating to Fire’s deal to supply Mad Catz with products to be marketed under the GameShark brand and the termination of Fire’s alleged prior business relationship with Electro Source. The latter requested a temporary restraining order to stop Mad Catz from marketing or distributing GameShark products. Mad Catz said that motion was denied and it filed a cross complaint against Electro Source in Feb. 2005, accusing the latter of false advertising, state and federal unfair competition, libel per se and trade libel, over ads and Internet statements. Mad Catz said in the same filing that its 3 top retail customers in fiscal 2005 -- Wal-Mart, EB Games and GameStop - accounted for about 47% of its fiscal 2005 gross sales.
The International Trade Administration (ITA) and the International Trade Commission (ITC) have issued notices, each initiating automatic five-year sunset reviews on the above-listed antidumping (AD) and countervailing (CV) duty orders.
The Washington File reports that the Group of Eight (G8) industrialized nations has agreed to convene a meeting of experts in autumn to develop a plan for improving national anti-piracy and anti-counterfeiting capabilities, noting that the theft of intellectual property rights (IPR) can be linked to organized crime. The leaders of the G8 (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, U.S., and Russia) met on July 6-8, 2005 in Scotland. (Washington File Pub 07/08/05, available at http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2005&m=July&x=20050708152328AKllennoCcM0.9995691&t=livefeeds/wf-latest.html)
The RIAA decided not to ask the Supreme Court to hear a case involving Charter Communications. The U.S. Appeals Court, St. Louis, ruled in Jan. that RIAA couldn’t force Internet providers to divulge customer identities under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). A spokeswoman for RIAA said the trade group now has no plans for litigation in the matter. The appeals court said Charter was a conduit for file transfers, such as music files, over the Internet and didn’t violate DMCA rules. “Charter’s victory is now complete and permanent,” a company spokesman said. He noted that the appeals court’s ruling said the RIAA couldn’t use the DMCA’s streamlined subpoena procedures and instead had to file a federal lawsuit and follow regular court rules. - JM.HEADLINE
A Cal. Superior Court judge rejected Lexar’s request for an injunction barring shipment of Toshiba-made flash memory products, saying the company was “adequately compensated” by a jury’s award of $465 million in damages this year.
The RIAA decided not to ask the Supreme Court to hear a case involving Charter Communications. The U.S. Appeals Court, St. Louis, ruled in Jan. that RIAA couldn’t force Internet providers to divulge customer identities under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. A spokeswoman for RIAA said the trade group now has no plans for litigation in the matter. The appeals court said Charter was a conduit for file transfers, such as music files, over the Internet and didn’t violate DMCA rules. “Charter’s victory is now complete and permanent,” a company spokesman said. He noted that the appeals court’s ruling said the RIAA couldn’t use the DMCA’s streamlined subpoena procedures and instead had to file a federal lawsuit and follow regular court rules. - JM
Tiger Telematics said in a delayed 10-Q SEC filing for the quarter ended Sept. 30 it had “sustained net losses over the past 3 years” and, as of quarter’s end, had a working capital deficit of about $25.28 million. The company launched its Gizmondo handheld entertainment device in Europe late last year but isn’t expected to launch it in the U.S. until Aug. 11 (CED May 23 p6). After losing $11.09 million in 2002, it lost $7.81 million in 2003, it said. It posted sales of $268,095 for the quarter ended Sept. 2004. From 2002 through Q2 2005 the company funded its operating losses and start-up costs “mainly with loans from stockholders or other parties and, in increasing amounts, through the issuance of shares of common stock,” it said. Without that equity funding, the company said, it “would not have been able to sustain operations.” The company said its working capital position “deteriorated” in the 9 months ended Sept. 30, 2004, which it blamed mainly on “increases in current liabilities of over $19.5 million, including an increase in accounts payable of over $7 million, an increase in accrued expense of over $4.3 million, and an increase in deposits on common stock of approximately $8 million.” Tiger said it raised more than $26.5 million in the 9 months ended Sept. 30 from the sale of common stock and additional deposits on common stock. The rest of 2004 and first quarter 2005, the company went on to raise more than $34 million. It then raised more than $21 million in Q2 2005 ended May 31 through the sale of the company’s restricted common stock. Tiger said this funding let it “maintain its business and to continue the development and launch of its Gizmondo product line.” The company said it hopes to raise “additional equity capital and obtain trade or bank financing as needed to fund the development and the launch of the Gizmondo product in different regions as needed.” But it warned that “there can be no assurance this additional capital or other financing will be available, or if available on terms reasonably acceptable to the company.” Tiger is preparing for the start of a trial against Jordan Grand Prix Ltd. next week in London. Jordan sued Tiger in U.K. High Court in March 2004 for $3 million, alleging violation of a sponsorship deal and July 2003 letter agreement. Tiger was accused of defaulting on a payment of $500,000 due Jan. 1, 2004, under the sponsorship deal, with $250,000 due the same date under the letter agreement. Tiger said it is “engaged in court- authorized mediation with Jordan to settle the case.” Tiger claimed it has “good and meritorious defenses to the suit and intends to defend vigorously the claims made against it.”
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued its weekly quota commodity report as of July 5, 2005. This report includes tariff-rate quotas (TRQs) on various products such as beef, tuna, sugar, dairy products, peanuts, cotton, cocoa powder, tobacco, certain JFTA, NAFTA, SFTA, UAFTA and UCFTA TRQs, etc. This report also includes the AGOA, ATPDEA, CBTPA, NAFTA, SFTA, and UCFTA (CFTA) tariff preference levels (TPLs) for qualifying apparel and/or other textile articles, the TRQs on worsted wool fabrics, etc. (CBP's weekly quota commodity report, dated 07/05/05, available at http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/import/textiles_and_quotas/commodity/)
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recently issued a Customs Bulletin notice requesting written comments by July 29, 2005 on its proposal to limit the application of the court decisions in Park B. Smith Ltd. vs. U.S. (Park) to the specific cotton woven table linens and cotton woven dhurry rug entries before the courts in that litigation. (See ITT's Online Archives or 07/01/05 news, 05070110 for BP summary.)
The Washington File reports that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced that a second case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) has been confirmed in the U.S. The Washington Post reports that there is no indication that the Texas animal was imported. (Washington File Pub 06/24/05, available at http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2005&m=June&x=20050624171239AKllennoCcM0.8347132&t=livefeeds/wf-latest.html ; WP, 06/25/05, www.washingtonpost.com )