TCL signed a license agreement with DivX that “puts an end to all pending patent litigation matters between the parties,” said the licensor Wednesday. A DivX complaint at the International Trade Commission in November sought an import ban on TCL smart TVs for allegedly infringing a September 2014 patent on adaptive bitrate streaming (see 2111300045). The complaint progressed in February to a Section 337 investigation. DivX and TCL intend to file a joint motion to terminate the investigation, said an April 14 order signed by Administrative Law Judge Monica Bhattacharyya. TCL didn’t comment Wednesday.
Hasbro faces the “potential risk” of $100 million in lost sales this year to Russia, equaling about 2% of 2021 revenue, said Chief Financial Officer Deborah Thomas on a Q1 earnings call Tuesday. “We have paused shipments into Russia” in the aftermath of its Feb. 24 Ukraine invasion, she said.
IFA organizers landed testimonials from the merged Azione Unlimited and Nationwide buying groups in touting the Sept. 2-6 Berlin show as “the first opportunity” for global retailers “to connect at full scale with brands and manufacturers of the consumer electronics and home appliances industries.” COVID-19 forced IFA to run a scaled-down show in 2020 and prompted its outright cancellation in 2021. CES 2022 went ahead with a three-day run in Las Vegas that drew significantly fewer audiences than usual. IFA organizers said Tuesday that retailers told the IFA team “this year they are more eager than ever to come to Berlin, because they want to make sure that the surge of demand during the first 18 to 24 months of the pandemic will not become a one-off that subsides during the coming months.” They quoted Azione President Richard Glikes as saying: “Who in the world wouldn’t love to go to the largest electronics show in the world? I’m excited to see the latest and greatest new gear in one of the coolest cities on the planet!” IFA isn’t just “one of the largest CE and home appliances trade shows,” said Nationwide President Tim Hickman. “It’s also an innovation epicenter that draws the best, the brightest and the most exciting new technology, year in and year out. Every time we attend, our team walks away invigorated and inspired to bring these emerging trends to North America’s independent retailers.”
Ericsson will record “extraordinary costs” of about 900 million Swedish krona ($94.3 million) from its decision to suspend its “effective business in Russia indefinitely,” said CEO Borje Ekholm on a Q1 earnings call Thursday.
Outsourcing, offshoring and insufficient investment in resilience rendered many supply chains “complex and fragile,” said the annual "Economic Report of the President," released Thursday by the White House Council of Economic Advisers. COVID-19 exposed and exacerbated widespread vulnerabilities in global supply chains, but the pandemic didn’t cause them, said the report.
Direct negotiations with China are, “at this point, unlikely to yield meaningful results” in curbing Beijing’s unfair trade practices, Emily Kilcrease, senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, told the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission in written testimony at a hearing Thursday. “China has little incentive to commit to binding rules that will require structural changes to a system they believe works for their economic and political objectives,” she said.
Development of an Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) to bolster U.S. economic relations in the Indo-Pacific region would be “a durable and sustainable forum for aligning the values of dynamic and growing economies in the Indo-Pacific region with those of the United States,” said CTA in comments posted Tuesday in docket ITA-2022-0001. Comments were due Monday to help the Commerce Department develop U.S. positions in the IPEF negotiations.
“Gaps in readiness” are seriously hampering the ability of many organizations to “manage and recover” from ransomware attacks, a Zerto study found. “The research also underlines the increased risk to mitigation strategies presented by widespread skills shortages and over-reliance on internal resources,” said the Hewlett Packard Enterprise subsidiary Tuesday.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is accepting nominations for members of any of 15 Industry Trade Advisory Committees (ITACs) for a new four-year “charter term” ending in February 2026, says a notice for Tuesday’s Federal Register. ITACs, under a program run jointly by USTR and the Commerce Department, “provide detailed policy and technical advice, information, and recommendations” on trade barriers, negotiation of trade agreements and the implementation of existing trade agreements affecting industry sectors,” says the notice. ITACs also “perform other advisory functions relevant to U.S. trade policy matters,” it says. There’s no deadline for applications, as the program “will accept nominations throughout the charter term,” it says. The ITACs recently came to light during the Section 301 litigation when it was disclosed in previously confidential “decision memos” that USTR consulted with members in 2018 before imposing the List 3 tariffs on Chinese imports (see 2203250038). ITAC members generally supported the Trump administration’s effort to curb China’s unfair trade practices but expressed concern about the negative effect that the tariffs would have on U.S. businesses and consumers, said one of the memos. None of the advice ITAC members gave USTR proposed “any viable alternatives to increased tariffs as a tool for obtaining the elimination of China’s unfair trade practices,” said the memo.
Pearl TV is "focused" on building “scale” in ATSC 3.0 deployments and consumer adoption, Managing Director Anne Schelle said in an interview, commenting on recent remarks by Sinclair President-Technology Del Parks that the industry needs to begin planning for the shutdown of the “legacy” 1.0 service (see 2203310029). It’s “still the early days” of 3.0 service deployments, said Schelle.