The Register of Copyrights said the Copyright Royalty Board’s determination of rates established in December for royalty payments to be paid by preexisting subscription services, like Music Choice, didn’t properly consider the four statutory factors under copyright law. The judges’ misinterpretation of the applicable statutory standard “constitutes an erroneous resolution of a material question of substantive law,” said Register of Copyrights Maria Pallante Wednesday in a Federal Register notice (http://1.usa.gov/173UkYe). The CRB finalized its rates for the licensing period Jan. 1, 2013, through Dec. 31, 2017, for the only existing Satellite Digital Audio Radio Services, Sirius XM, and for PSS last year (CD Dec 18 p8). The rates included a 9 percent royalty that Sirius XM must pay to SoundExchange, which will increase by 0.5 percent each year, reaching 11 percent in 2017. The Copyright Office also published the final rates for the services Wednesday in the Federal Register (http://1.usa.gov/17p66e2).
DirecTV will begin shooting the Full Circle drama series this summer at its broadcast center in El Segundo, Calif., as it steps up investment in original programming. Full Circle will premier this fall on DirecTV’s Audience Network, a channel formally called The 101 Network. Momentum TV is producing the series, DirecTV said. Fremantle Media will handle distribution in international markets, DirecTV said. DirecTV premiered Rogue on the Audience Network earlier this month, and struck an agreement with Sony Pictures Television three years ago to relaunch the Damages series that was dropped from FX. DirecTV also reached an agreement with the Seattle Mariners, giving the baseball team a majority stake in the Root Sports Network. DirecTV will continue to operate Root Sports Northwest, which has the rights to Mariners games through 2030, DirecTV said. DirecTV has three regional sports networks that were part of its spinoff from Liberty Media.
The FTC is seeking comments and will hold a public workshop on security and privacy implications of connected devices, such as Internet-connected appliances or medical devices, which “can communicate with consumers, transmit data back to companies, and compile data for third parties such as researchers, health care providers, or even other consumers,” the agency announced Wednesday (http://1.usa.gov/10gplJx). In its call for comments on the so-called Internet of Things, the FTC asked respondents to discuss the technologies that enable these connected devices, the companies producing these devices, the potential privacy and security risks and the potential societal benefits. Comments can be submitted through June 1 at iot@ftc.gov.
The Digital Development Group, a Hollywood-based online TV content acquisition and distribution company, said it raised an undisclosed amount of cash from actor Charlie Sheen. The money will help Digital Development Group develop more original programming, it said. “My investment in DigiDev is a vote of confidence” in its leadership and in the online video industry, Sheen said in a news release.
Google intends to bring Google Fiber to Provo, Utah, the company announced Wednesday (http://bit.ly/13jefnI). Pending a city council vote next Tuesday, Google will acquire the city’s fiber-optic network iProvo, said Kevin Lo, Google Fiber general manager. “As a part of the acquisition, we would commit to upgrade the network to gigabit technology and finish network construction so that every home along the existing iProvo network would have the opportunity to connect to Google Fiber.” To strive toward the city’s vision of providing high-speed connectivity to its residents, Google will offer free Internet service with speeds of 5 Mbps to homes on the existing network for a $30 activation fee and “no monthly charge for at least seven years,” the post said. Additionally, Google will “provide free Gigabit Internet service to 25 local public institutions like schools, hospitals and libraries” and offer Google Fiber Gigabit Internet and Google Fiber TV service to Provo residents.
The FCC is starting an investigation of wireless calling problems following Monday’s bombings in Boston, a step urged by Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel and other officials Tuesday (CD April 17 p1). Similar to other recent crises, there were widespread reports after the attack about network overload. “There was a temporary surge in wireless phone use after the Boston attack, which caused network congestion,” said Public Safety Bureau Chief David Turetsky. He said Chairman Julius Genachowski instructed the bureau “to examine the events in Boston as part of its ongoing effort to strengthen network resiliency and reliability in the wake of a disaster. This includes steps that carriers and other stakeholders can take, as well as ways to improve public outreach and education.” Genachowski also released a statement. “Our thoughts and prayers remain with the victims of the tragedy in Boston,” he said. “It’s vital that communications service is available during crises, when the need to reach 911, family and friends is the most urgent. For the FCC, this is an institutional imperative.”
Arbitron said shareholders approved the company’s agreement to be bought by Nielsen. “Approximately 98.99 percent of the shares voting at today’s Special Meeting of Stockholders voted in favor of the agreement,” which represent 77 percent of all stock outstanding on March 8, Arbitron said in a news release Tuesday (http://bit.ly/12lMY19). It said U.S. antitrust approval is needed. Such an OK was expected by the companies, they said in December when the $1.25 billion deal was disclosed (CD Dec 19 p10), and more recently they voluntarily gave the FTC more time to review the combination.
TVB is moving downtown in Manhattan. Starting Monday, the broadcast ad association will be at 120 Wall Street. That’s “New York City’s only Association Center and home to over 30 not-for-profit” groups, said TVB in a news release Tuesday (http://bit.ly/Zy9IGZ). The group now is at 3 E. 54th St.
Government officials and industry representatives cautioned against changes to International Trade Commission Section 337 investigations. They warned at a House Intellectual Property Subcommittee hearing Tuesday of negative consequences that could lead to expensive, lengthy cases. The hearing focused on proposed efforts to suppress non-practicing entities (NPEs) and patent assertion entities (PAEs) from getting ITC exclusion orders under Section 337. Industry representatives sought to amend the criteria for qualifying as a U.S. industry that can cause a Section 337 investigation. The subcommittee held a similar hearing last year (CD July 19 p13) . “Congress should amend Section 337 to change the domestic industry requirements by limiting qualification to those who engaged in production-based licensing, and not allow complainants to rely on revenue based licensing to satisfy domestic industry,” said Russell Binns, Avaya associate general counsel, in written testimony (http://1.usa.gov/15g457h). NPEs can also use the threat of an exclusion order to “hold up” for excessive payments respondents accused of infringement, because the accused can’t afford the risk of being excluded from the U.S. market, said David Foster, chairman of the ITC Trial Lawyers Association Trade Committee, in written testimony (http://1.usa.gov/15mRvDE). But he and others opposed changing the statute, citing progress ITC has made on its own to better apply the law. Recent ITC decisions, such as the HTC Android smartphone case, show increased attention to the public interest, he said. Proponents of editing the law, including Binns, have also argued for the ITC to include the eBay standard, referring to the Supreme Court’s 2006 decision in eBay v. MercExchange, which affirmed the traditional four-factor test for deciding when injunctive relief is appropriate for patent cases. Implementing the eBay test would “engender confusion and uncertainty,” Foster said. It would increase the cost and length of investigations, since parties would need to undergo “additional steps to prove their cases,” he said. That standard would also reintroduce an injury test in the ITC, “despite proof of injury specifically being eliminated in the 1988 legislation as necessary to establish a patent-based violation,” Foster said. Others at the hearing discounted arguments about the recent Section 337-fueled rise in ITC cases. Former ITC Chairman Deanna Tanner Okun cited (http://1.usa.gov/ZydAIg) a commission fact sheet which said that from May 2006 to June 2012, NPEs accounted for just 10 percent of Section 337 investigations. PAEs accounted for 8 percent of investigations in the same period, said the handout. The ITC is “tailoring its remedial orders to reflect economic and practical realities, and public interest concerns are being carefully addressed,” Okun testified. “The ITC’s recent decisions and administrative actions have sent a clear message that this is not the forum for patent holders who do not make the investments in the U.S. economy mandated by Congress.”
The FCC granted petitions by six communities in New York and Pennsylvania asking to be excluded from municipal rate-setting for basic-video and some other prices for Time Warner Cable, said a Media Bureau order Monday. TWC both cited competition from DirecTV and Dish Network. The order granting TWC’s petition will affect close to 45,000 households in the New York communities of Butler, Canandaigua, Sodus Point, Greece, Torrey and the Pennsylvania borough of Ulysses (http://bit.ly/13iX7OW).