An RIAA theory of copyright infringement without network transfer was rejected by a New York judge hearing a marathon P2P infringement case. The Monday ruling also shot down RIAA citations of World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) treaties and the Copyright Office as authorities binding on U.S. copyright law. But the court was otherwise friendly to the trade group. It got permission to refile its complaint and validation against the defendant’s claims that the RIAA’s case failed a new Supreme Court specificity-in-pleading standard.
The International Trade Commission has instituted a section 337 patent-based investigation of certain light emitting diodes, laser diodes and products containing same pursuant to a complaint.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a news release announcing that the next phase of the CBP.gov Web site upgrade is to be launched April 4, 2008 and will feature new second-tier feature pages providing better display of information on CBP's major missions of border security, trade and travel, as well as CBP news and career information. This upgrade also will introduce a streamlined menu bar and footers, as well as more photos and graphics.
Charges of patent infringement for blue and violet LEDs and laser diodes will be investigated by the U.S. International Trade Commission. The complaint was filed Feb. 20 by Gertrude Neumark Rothschild of Hartsdale, N.Y., the ITC said. Rothschild, a Columbia University professor, requested exclusion and cease-and-desist orders for products using blue and violet LEDs and laser diodes, like Blu-ray and HD DVD players, data storage devices, hand-held mobile devices, instrument panels, billboards and traffic lights, the ITC said. It referred the investigation to Paul Luckern, an ITC administrative law judge. Prominent CE companies named in the complaint include Hitachi, LG, Lite-On, Matsushita, Pioneer, Samsung, Sanyo, Sharp, Sony and Toshiba. Matsushita and Sony replied to our query on the case, declining comment because it’s pending litigation.
The International Trade Commission has instituted a section 337 patent-based investigation of certain intermediate bulk containers pursuant to a complaint.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a Truck Manifest CSMS message announcing that it has resolved the problem with ACE Truck Manifest not generating truck manifest EDI status notifications.
The International Trade Commission has instituted a section 337 patent-based investigation of certain laser imageable lithographic printing plates pursuant to a complaint.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued an ACE Portal Accounts CSMS message providing, as an attachment, the February 2008 ACE Trade Account Owner (TAO) monthly update.
U.S. district judges in Oklahoma City have ruled contrastingly on requests for attorney’s fees by victorious P2P defendants. The court was the first to require the RIAA to pay fees, in the Capitol v. Foster ruling by Judge Lee West (WID July 18 p5). But West’s colleague Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange last week denied fees to another ex-defendant, in Warner v. Stubbs. Both defendants said they were “prevailing parties,” entitled to fees. But Miles-LaGrange said the fact that the RIAA dropped its case against Tallie Stubbs when only “minimal discovery had been undertaken,” and the trade group’s “covenant” not to sue again (WID July 5 p8), kept Stubbs from being deemed the prevailing party under the Copyright Act. Nor does she qualify for fees under the DMCA, since her claims didn’t allege “misrepresentation” by the RIAA of her online behavior, Miles-LaGrange said. RIAA withdrawal of its suit against Stubbs, soon after her attorney Marilyn Barringer-Thomson filed an accusation against the group of “extortion,” got widespread attention (WID Aug 28/06 p1). Barringer-Thomson also represented Debbie Foster, who won fees after the RIAA accused her of secondary liability after it identified Foster’s daughter as its primary target. In another case, a White Plains, N.Y., federal magistrate judge has cited the Supreme Court Twombly ruling on specificity in pleading to deny P2P defendants’ motion to add counterclaims. Twombly has seen increasing use by both sides in recent P2P cases, though judges have split on whether it goes against “boilerplate” RIAA complaints or defendants’ counterclaims (WID March 3 p2). Elektra v. Santangelo II is a case against the children of the first P2P defendant known to have pushed for a trial against the RIAA. Robert and Michelle Santangelo sought to assert counterclaims against the RIAA, including “breach of duty to warn,” false advertising and deceptive trade practices under New York and federal law, copyright misuse, computer fraud, trespass and civil conspiracy. Most of those counterclaims have no legal basis under Twombly, Magistrate Judge Mark Fox told Judge Stephen Robinson. He ruled that New York law on private-investigator licensing doesn’t offer a private right of action -- only the secretary of state can move against unlicensed investigators. Several P2P defendants have accused RIAA investigator MediaSentry of lacking the license needed for its searches of their shared folders to show infringement. Police have questioned MediaSentry on its P2P investigations in Massachusetts (WID Feb 21 p3).
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has issued a press release announcing that on March 3, 2008, the Bush Administration submitted to Congress the 2008 Trade Policy Agenda and the 2007 Annual Report on the Trade Agreements Program.