The U.K. IP Office sought comment by Aug. 17 on a proposal to raise the maximum penalty for online copyright infringement at a 10-year prison sentence. The proposal would equalize the penalty for online infringement with the current maximum penalty for physical infringement; the current maximum penalty for online infringement stands at a two-year sentence. U.K. government officials have been exploring raising the penalty for online infringement since 2005, with a 2006 independent review of the nation’s IP laws recommending equalizing the sentences because “the intention and impact of physical and online infringement are the same.” The maximum fine for online infringement has steadily increased since 2005 and is now open-ended. Increasing the possible prison sentence for online infringement would “have a deterrent effect on criminals seeking to make money in this way,” the IP Office said Friday.

World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) member nations and nongovernmental organizations should strengthen IP rights in all new and existing treaties, said a coalition of 85 free market-oriented groups Monday in a joint letter to WIPO Director General Francis Gurry. The letter, organized by Americans for Tax Reform affiliate Property Right Alliance (PRA), urges the European Commission, WIPO, other intergovernmental organizations and NGOs to protect IP rights in all trade agreements, protect IP rights on the Internet and enhance IP rights as a tool to promote free markets. “Advanced societies have long understood that by protecting the proprietary rights of artists, authors, entrepreneurs, innovators, and inventors, they were promoting the greater public welfare,” the PRA-led coalition said in the letter. “The continued protection of these fundamental rights is essential to global innovation, creativity and competitiveness.” The coalition wants the letter to “encourage the leaders of international organizations and governments to work together to promote the rule of law and protect strong IP rights as the engine of fair, prosperous and transparent societies,” PRA Executive Director Lorenzo Montanari said in a statement. “Ensuring that intellectual property rights are respected and protected in every nation will promote prosperity, innovation and creativity around the globe.”

Abuse of the patent litigation system by patent assertion entities (PAEs) “is the most significant problem facing the patent system and innovation more generally,” Mark MacCarthy, vice president-public policy at the Software & Information Industry Association, wrote to House leadership Thursday urging support for the Innovation Act (HR-9). “Patent trolls do not innovate, make or sell anything, but exist simply to buy patents from others for the sole purpose of suing legitimate businesses of all sizes and kinds for alleged patent infringement, leveraging the very high cost of defending against such lawsuits to obtain ‘hold up’ settlements,” MacCarthy said. "Action needs to be taken now to stop these abusive tactics.” MacCarthy cautioned lawmakers not to be taken in by “a hail-Mary mudslinging campaign” mounted by HR-9 opponents and “designed to obfuscate the purpose and effect of the Innovation Act.” Statements in that campaign that “China loves” HR-9 or that “inventors fear it” are “nothing more than scare tactics from groups that have no substantively compelling arguments on which to base their opposition,” he said. An American Conservative Union-led ad blitz launched last Monday through Washington-area newspapers urged defeat of HR-9 on the grounds it will harm American inventors and small businesses.

Google released an updated version of its Google Patents tool, a company blog post said Thursday. The revised search tool contains an updated classification tool, using cooperative patent classification codes to classify everything found in Google Scholar, the company said. It said that Google Patents now contains a simplified user interface and the option to search for foreign patent documents using English keywords.

Chairmen and executives from the nation's largest Internet companies, including Google, Etsy, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Yahoo, submitted a joint letter Thursday to House leadership urging the passage of the Innovation Act (HR-9). "As inventors ourselves, we support the Innovation Act because it strikes a reasonable compromise between protecting patent holders' rights and removing the threat of frivolous patent troll litigation," the letter said. The reforms in HR-9 are "not silver bullets," the letter said, but they "help remove factors that make the patent troll business model a no-risk, high-reward enterprise. The Innovation Act is a positive step in the right direction for our economy."

Correction: The Music. Innovation. Consumers. (MIC) Coalition hadn't taken a position on the Fair Play Fair Pay Act (HR-1733) (see 1507140071).

NPR's Policy and Representation Division left the Music. Innovation. Consumers. (MIC) Coalition Tuesday amid ongoing pressure from advocates of the Fair Play Fair Pay Act (HR-1733) to leave the group. CEA, Google and NAB are members of the MIC Coalition. NAB and some other MIC Coalition members oppose HR-1733, but the MIC Coalition itself hasn’t taken a position on the bill. HR-1733, introduced in April, would require most terrestrial radio stations to begin paying performance royalties and would require digital broadcasters to begin paying royalties for pre-1972 sound recordings. The bill also would require satellite broadcasters to pay royalties at market rates (see 1504160050). The Content Creators Coalition (c3), which urged NPR Monday to leave the MIC Coalition, said in a statement Tuesday that "withdrawing was the right thing to do once NPR understood the negative impact its membership in the lobbying group had on artists and their interests." MusicFIRST, which had also urged NPR to leave the MIC Coalition, also praised the decision. "We applaud NPR for its willingness to listen and engage in a dialogue with musicians’ advocates," said MusicFIRST Executive Director Ted Kalo in a statement. “And we commend NPR’s decision to leave the MIC Coalition, separating itself from both the Coalition and its anti-artist agenda.” MIC Coalition “members ensure that American music consumers can access music through platforms, venues and innovations of their choice; that music gets heard in legal and accessible ways and that artists get paid for their work,” the group said in a statement. “It's unfortunate that some continue to try to mischaracterize that mission, and we invite all stakeholders to instead join this most important conversation about how we together create a transparent music ecosystem that benefits all of us.”

Advanced Digital Broadcast, the Swiss-based supplier of HD set-top boxes, residential gateway devices and other products to pay-TV operators worldwide, is seeking a preliminary injunction preventing HDMI Licensing from canceling its license agreement and preventing customs authorities from seizing ADB goods, the company said in a motion filed in U.S. District Court in San Jose. ADB wants the court to set an Aug. 12 motions hearing on the injunction request. ADB moved for the injunction days after its complaint accused HDMI Licensing of “wrongfully” demanding $905,000 in back royalties it doesn’t owe (see 1507010017). The complaint didn’t seek a preliminary injunction, only a court “declaration” that HDMI Licensing “is precluded” from notifying customs that ADB goods “are unauthorized and subject to seizure because they are not.” ADB has argued it has dutifully paid HDMI Licensing the 4 cent-per-unit royalty it owed, but that the licensor is wrongfully demanding 10 cents per unit more on the grounds -- denied by ADB -- that ADB failed to “reasonably” incorporate HDMI trademarks on its product documentation materials. If HDMI Licensing isn't “enjoined” from canceling the license agreement and calling for customs seizures of ADB shipments, ADB “will suffer immediate irreparable harm as it will no longer be able to represent to its customers that it supplies licensed products,” its injunction motion said. “The inability to do so will severely harm the reputation of ADB and the goodwill it has established in the U.S. market and its industry worldwide.” ADB also fears the jobs of its 50 U.S. employees will be “at risk,” it said. HDMI Licensing representatives have declined comment on the case.

The Software Alliance (BSA) submitted a letter to House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Thursday calling for "certain changes and clarifications to be made" to the Innovation Act (HR-9) as the legislation is prepared for House consideration. In the letter, the BSA said HR-9 "represents a solid framework for much-needed reform to address the rampant abuses occurring in patent litigation," but suggests changes be made to strengthen pleading requirements, and to a provision concerning U.S. Patent and Trademark Office standards for interpretation of post-grant reviews. "The pleadings provision needs to be strengthened to require patentees to articulate their allegations of infringement for every claim being asserted," said the BSA in the letter. It also urged deleting a provision from the bill to "alter the current USPTO practice of using the broadest reasonable interpretation standard during all post-grant review challenges." CEA has said that HR-9 is expected to go to a floor vote in the House during the week of July 20 (see 1507080040).

The world sees the U.S. as a leader in protecting and enforcing intellectual property rights, but as countries across the globe "seek to catch up," America "cannot afford to stand still," Michelle Lee, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office director, said Monday in a speech at a Center for Strategic and International Studies event. The focus of Lee's speech was primarily on the need for the U.S. patent system to evolve and the changes she said are necessary for it to improve. Lee said she met with Chinese leaders in the field of intellectual property on a recent trip and was told China is seeking to transition its economy from relying on manufacturing the inventions of people from other countries to thriving off inventions of its own. To do so, China "recognizes the need for a patent system" more like that of the U.S., she said. Because of the increased threat of competition from other countries, Lee said, it's important that the U.S. strives to become "even better at incentivizing and promoting innovation and investment." Current problems with the U.S. system stem partly from the rise of the practice of monetizing a patent bought from another company "without contributing anything inventive or without making or providing any service," and in increased patent infringement claims made merely to coerce defense settlements without regard to the merits of a claim, she said. Such problems "are not just bad for small businesses and startups," they're bad for "inventors, consumers, jobs and the American economy," she said. And "worst of all," such problems "reduce the public's faith in our patent system," Lee said. Her idea is to change the system in a way that preserves balance between maintaining strong patent protections that are necessary for innovation, and ensuring a more efficient and streamlined way of handling disputes, she said. Achieving that balance is "a responsibility shared by all three branches of government," but in order to have timely changes "targeted and balanced legislation is needed," she said. Reforms should reduce the incentive to engage in abusive patent litigation tactics without undermining the strengths of "our world-class patent system," she said. "Reform is not a crisis of faith about our patent system," Lee said, but "a way of keeping faith with its goals of promoting innovation and technological progress."