George Mason University Center for the Protection of Intellectual Property Senior Scholar Adam Mossoff and 27 other U.S. academics jointly urged the leaders of the House and Senate Judiciary committees Monday to “exercise caution” in considering the patent litigation-focused Venue Equity and Non-Uniformity Elimination (Venue) Act. (S-2733), filed in March (see 1603180057). The legislation would revamp rules for placement of patent infringement lawsuits in federal courts, requiring at least one of the parties involved in the suit be connected directly to the jurisdiction in which the lawsuit is filed. House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., has said he isn’t opposed to narrowly focused patent bills like S-2733 but prefers to focus on his more comprehensive Innovation Act (HR-9), which also addresses patent litigation venue issues (see 1603250056). A “cautious stance” on bills like S-2733 is needed until the effects of the establishment of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board and other changes to the patent system enacted via the 2011 America Invents Act “are better understood,” the academics said in their letter to Goodlatte and other House and Senate Judiciary leaders. Although calls for revamping venue rules sound plausible because of the high concentration of patent infringement suits in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, the push for bills like S-2733 primarily is coming from tech firms and online retailers “that would rather litigate in a small number of more defendant-friendly jurisdictions,” the academics said. They said other arguments in favor of S-2733 “do not stand up to scrutiny,” including claims the bill would spread lawsuits to other courts around the country. Some S-2733 supporters “have found that restricting venue in a manner similar to the VENUE Act would likely result in concentrating more than 50% of patent lawsuits in just two districts: the District of Delaware (where most publicly traded corporations are incorporated) and the Northern District of California (where many patent defendants are headquartered),” the academics said. S-2733 would “raise costs for many patent owners by requiring them to litigate the same patent against multiple defendants in multiple jurisdictions, increasing patent litigation overall,” the academics said: The bill also “encourages the manipulation of well-settled venue rules across all areas of law by the self-serving efforts of large corporate defendants that seek to insulate themselves from the consequences of violating the law. By enacting the Venue Act, Congress would send a strong signal to corporate defendants that they can tilt the substantive playing field by simply shifting cases to defendant-friendly jurisdictions.”

Comcast violated Washington state’s Consumer Protection Act nearly 2 million times, alleged a lawsuit by Attorney General Bob Ferguson. Ferguson filed the suit Monday in King County Superior Court. Comcast allegedly misrepresented the scope of its service protection plan, charged customers improper service call fees, practiced improper credit screening and deceived customers with its company guarantee, the AG said in a Monday news release. Comcast allegedly misled 500,000 Washington consumers into paying $73 million in subscription fees over five years for a “near-worthless” protection plan, the AG said. The plan doesn’t cover repairs to any wiring inside a wall, which comprises “the vast majority of wiring inside homes,” it said. The suit seeks $73 million in restitution, plus about $1 million for improper service call charges and up to $2,000 per violation of the Consumer Protection Act. The AG also sought a court order requiring Comcast to remove improper credit checks from the credit reports of more than 6,000 customers and an injunction requiring the cable company to clearly disclose limitations of its protection plan in advertisements and through representatives, to stop improper charges and to implement a compliance procedure for improper credit checks. The AG's office informed Comcast of the issues more than a year ago, but the company didn’t start making changes until it was on “the verge of this litigation,” it said. “This case is a classic example of a big corporation deceiving its customers for financial gain,” Ferguson said. “I won’t allow Comcast to continue to put profits above customers -- and the law.” We “will vigorously defend ourselves,” a Comcast spokeswoman said. The protection plan at issue covers more than 99 percent of repair calls, she said. “We worked with the Attorney General’s office to address every issue they raised, and we made several improvements based on their input. Given that we were committed to continue working collaboratively with the Attorney General’s office, we’re surprised and disappointed that they have instead chosen litigation.”

George Mason University Center for the Protection of Intellectual Property Senior Scholar Adam Mossoff and 27 other U.S. academics jointly urged the leaders of the House and Senate Judiciary committees Monday to “exercise caution” in considering the patent litigation-focused Venue Equity and Non-Uniformity Elimination (Venue) Act. (S-2733), filed in March (see 1603180057). The legislation would revamp rules for placement of patent infringement lawsuits in federal courts, requiring at least one of the parties involved in the suit be connected directly to the jurisdiction in which the lawsuit is filed. House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., has said he isn’t opposed to narrowly focused patent bills like S-2733 but prefers to focus on his more comprehensive Innovation Act (HR-9), which also addresses patent litigation venue issues (see 1603250056). A “cautious stance” on bills like S-2733 is needed until the effects of the establishment of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board and other changes to the patent system enacted via the 2011 America Invents Act “are better understood,” the academics said in their letter to Goodlatte and other House and Senate Judiciary leaders. Although calls for revamping venue rules sound plausible because of the high concentration of patent infringement suits in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, the push for bills like S-2733 primarily is coming from tech firms and online retailers “that would rather litigate in a small number of more defendant-friendly jurisdictions,” the academics said. They said other arguments in favor of S-2733 “do not stand up to scrutiny,” including claims the bill would spread lawsuits to other courts around the country. Some S-2733 supporters “have found that restricting venue in a manner similar to the VENUE Act would likely result in concentrating more than 50% of patent lawsuits in just two districts: the District of Delaware (where most publicly traded corporations are incorporated) and the Northern District of California (where many patent defendants are headquartered),” the academics said. S-2733 would “raise costs for many patent owners by requiring them to litigate the same patent against multiple defendants in multiple jurisdictions, increasing patent litigation overall,” the academics said: The bill also “encourages the manipulation of well-settled venue rules across all areas of law by the self-serving efforts of large corporate defendants that seek to insulate themselves from the consequences of violating the law. By enacting the Venue Act, Congress would send a strong signal to corporate defendants that they can tilt the substantive playing field by simply shifting cases to defendant-friendly jurisdictions.”

The FCC and industry are making progress toward launch of the 3.5 GHz shared spectrum band, said Office of Engineering and Technology Chief Julius Knapp at the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee meeting Monday. Knapp said the FCC is making progress on the shared use of the 5.9 GHz band between Wi-Fi and automotive safety systems. The CSMAC meeting was streamed from Boulder, Colorado.

A hotly anticipated GOP fight for leadership of the House Commerce Committee is less than six months away, and four of the known likely contenders told us they want a renewed committee focus on rewriting the 1996 Telecom Act in the next Congress. Two key lawmakers seen as interested for more than a year are the more-senior Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., who never hid his intentions, and Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., who only recently began expressing public interest (see 1505140064 and 1509280058). Commerce Committee Vice Chairwoman Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, also may be in the mix.

A hotly anticipated GOP fight for leadership of the House Commerce Committee is less than six months away, and four of the known likely contenders told us they want a renewed committee focus on rewriting the 1996 Telecom Act in the next Congress. Two key lawmakers seen as interested for more than a year are the more-senior Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., who never hid his intentions, and Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., who only recently began expressing public interest (see 1505140064 and 1509280058). Commerce Committee Vice Chairwoman Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, also may be in the mix.

The number of entities lobbying Congress on online sales tax legislation is likely to continue to either decrease slightly or remain static through the end of 2016, amid growing perceptions that bills like the Marketplace Fairness Act (S-698) and the Remote Transactions Parity Act (HR-2775) aren't likely to move in view of the rapidly closing legislative window, two internet commerce lobbyists said in interviews. Meanwhile, the number of entities lobbying Congress on the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority transition may either rise or fall sharply in Q3 depending on how the debate over whether to allow the transition to proceed progresses in the coming months, stakeholders told us.

The number of entities lobbying Congress on online sales tax legislation is likely to continue to either decrease slightly or remain static through the end of 2016, amid growing perceptions that bills like the Marketplace Fairness Act (S-698) and the Remote Transactions Parity Act (HR-2775) aren't likely to move in view of the rapidly closing legislative window, two internet commerce lobbyists said in interviews. Meanwhile, the number of entities lobbying Congress on the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority transition may either rise or fall sharply in Q3 depending on how the debate over whether to allow the transition to proceed progresses in the coming months, stakeholders told us.

Under President Barack Obama, internet and tech policy were mainstreamed and that’s not an accident, said current and former Obama administration officials during a panel at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A former official said Obama may never have been elected without the internet. The Monday discussion, streamed from Cambridge, Massachusetts, was part of MIT’s Internet Policy Research Initiative.

Under President Barack Obama, internet and tech policy were mainstreamed and that’s not an accident, said current and former Obama administration officials during a panel at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A former official said Obama may never have been elected without the internet. The Monday discussion, streamed from Cambridge, Massachusetts, was part of MIT’s Internet Policy Research Initiative.