October imports of Chinese smartphones jumped 13 percent sequentially to 17.9 million, we calculated Monday using International Trade Commission’s DataWeb. They fell 11 percent from the 20.1 million in October 2018, when imports rose 22 percent from that September, in line with historical holiday trends and when the threat of tariffs on Chinese smartphones wasn't in play. October smartphone imports from all countries classified under the 8517.12.00 tariff subheading jumped 13 percent from September to 22.6 million handsets. That's down 8.1 percent from the 24.5 million smartphones imported in October 2018. U.S. tariffs over intellectual property disputes with China that took effect Sept. 1 sent China’s share of October TV imports plunging, but no such China exodus was evident in smartphones. China was 79.5 percent of U.S. smartphone unit imports in October, vs. 82 percent in the same month a year earlier and 79.2 percent this September.

Federal copyright law is “ill-suited to a Restatement because it is clearly articulated by Congress,” the Copyright Alliance wrote the American Law Institute Wednesday. The letter cited concerns about ALI’s Copyright Restatement Project. It echoed Tuesday correspondence to ALI from Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and Reps. Ben Cline, R-Va.; Ted Deutch, D-Fla.; Martha Roby, R-Ala.; and Harley Rouda, D-Calif. The Copyright Alliance agreed with a passage in the Tillis letter: “Courts should rely upon statutory text and legislative history, not [on] Restatements that attempt to replace the statutory language and legislative history established by Congress with novel interpretation.”

The Patent and Trademark Office will accept public comment through Jan. 10 on artificial intelligence technology’s impact on intellectual property law and policy, PTO announced Tuesday.

Intel completed the sale of most of its smartphone modem business to Apple for $1 billion, Intel said Monday. About 2,200 employees will leave for Apple under the midsummer deal in which Intel will keep rights to develop modems for non-smartphone applications, such as PCs, IoT devices and autonomous vehicles (see 1907250072). Intel abandoned the 5G smartphone modem business in April, saying it saw “no clear path to profitability and positive returns" (see 1904170004).

Samsung Display applied for a U.S. trademark on the name “SAMOLED” for a series of flat-panel display applications, including smartphone screens, Patent and Trademark Office records show. Display Supply Chain Consultants CEO Ross Young speculated the trademark is to coin and protect a name for Samsung’s active-matrix OLED smartphone displays “since they likely believe they have a quality advantage." Samsung Display supplies panels for Samsung-branded smartphones and for iPhones. The applicant didn’t comment.

The Copyright Office extended the written reply comment period Wednesday for the proposed blanket compulsory license under the Music Modernization Act through Dec. 20 (see 1909240018).

Viavi seeks a ban on imports of LG smartphones that infringe its patents, alleged the company Nov. 14 in a Tariff Act Section 337 complaint (login required) at the International Trade Commission, said Monday’s Federal Register. Viavi said LG's incorporating optical filters and optical sensor systems into its smartphones and tablets that provide 3D depth-sensing and gesture-recognition capabilities. Those optical filters and sensor systems are made by Optrontec and LG Innotek, which sell the components to LG for embedding in its smartphones before they’re imported to the U.S. Viavi requests a limited exclusion order and cease and desist orders against LG Electronics, LG Innotek and Optrontec barring import and sale of infringing devices, optical filters and optical sensor systems. Comments are due Dec. 3. LGE declined comment. LG Innotek and Optrontec didn't answer email queries.

DOJ’s Antitrust Division Friday asked to terminate the Paramount consent decrees, which regulate how certain movie studios distribute films to theaters. The decrees “served their original remedial purposes and no longer serve to promote or protect competition and innovation,” Justice announced. "New technology has created many different movie platforms that did not exist when the decrees were entered into, including cable and broadcast television, DVDs, and the Internet through movie streaming and download services." The request went to U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The division found the decrees' "continued existence may actually harm American consumers by standing in the way of innovative business models for the exhibition of America’s great creative films,” said Antitrust Chief Makan Delrahim.

Lawmakers introduced legislation Thursday that would require radio services “pay fair market value” to musicians. The Ask Musicians for Music (AM-FM) Act is from Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y. Blackburn seeks to attach its language to a Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization measure, to secure a radio performance royalty (see 1911210052). The U.S. is an "outlier" for not requiring radio pay artists, "while requiring satellite and internet radio to pay,” Nadler said. RIAA CEO Mitch Glazier said the bill would require “broadcasters to get permission from music creators to use their music in the same way broadcasters are entitled to give permission for the use of their signal.” NAB opposed the measure. CEO Gordon Smith noted a bipartisan group of 201 House members and 25 senators co-sponsored the Local Radio Freedom Act, "a resolution opposing any new performance fee on local radio."

The Supreme Court agreed to hear Google’s appeal of a ruling that it illegally copied Oracle’s programming code in Android (see 1903280061, docket 18-956). Oracle sued Google in 2010, claiming Google violated copyright law by using about 11,000 lines of Java programming code. Google claimed fair use. Oracle, which won a federal appeals court decision in 2018, is seeking some $9 billion in damages. Oracle is confident the high court “will preserve long established copyright protections for original software and reject Google’s continuing efforts to avoid responsibility for copying Oracle’s innovations,” a spokesperson emailed Friday. “We believe the Court will reject any reasoning that permits copying verbatim vast amounts of software code, used for the same purpose and same way as the original.” Google hopes the high court “reaffirms the importance of software interoperability in American competitiveness,” wrote Senior Vice President-Global Affairs Kent Walker. “Developers should be able to create applications across platforms and not be locked into one company's software.”