Antitrust authorities cleared the way for Accenture to buy Symantec’s cybersecurity services business from Broadcom. Financial terms of the deal announced during CES week weren’t disclosed. It’s expected to close in March. An FTC early termination notice dated Monday and released Tuesday ended the transaction's Hart-Scott-Rodino waiting period.

CTA’s application to register NEXTGEN TV as a certification mark for ATSC 3.0-compliant consumer goods (see 1909190066) is scheduled for Feb. 25 Trademark Official Gazette publication, a Patent and Trademark Office status page shows. Opposition parties would have 30 days from that date to try to block the registration. A notice of allowance (NOA) would follow if the application clears the opposition period, giving CTA six months to file a statement of use (SOU), one of the last stages before the logo would proceed to a registration certificate. CTA, when it files the SOU, will provide “a copy of the standards governing the use of the certification mark” on 3.0-compliant goods that “have been evaluated to meet certain use and performance” metrics, said the association's Sept. 25 application. A “potential bar” in PTO’s approval of the NEXTGEN TV logo was lifted this month when Sharp let lapse at the Jan. 4 deadline for filing its SOU on a NXT-GEN consumer TV trademark and logo it applied for in December 2018 (see 2001140030). The application had progressed to the NOA stage in June, but PTO declared it dead Jan. 6. “With the pause in our efforts to re-enter the US consumer TV market,” Sharp was “not able to show usage on a product in the time period required to continue the trademark application so we had to give it up,” emailed Sharp Home Electronics President Jim Sanduski.

The “sweeping remedial orders” that Sonos asked the International Trade Commission to impose against Google (see 2001230001) “would remove from the stream of commerce products and functionalities that far exceed the scope” of the multiroom audio patents Sonos alleges were infringed, commented Google (login required) in ITC docket 337-3428. The products on which Sonos seeks an import ban “contain thousands of features beyond playing music on multiroom audio systems,” it said. Google smart speakers “allow users to control over 30,000 smart home devices, including in-home security systems, cameras, lights, switches, plugs, thermostats, and many other devices, using voice commands,” it said. They provide “significant benefits to users, particularly those with disabilities,” none of which “implicates any claimed invention” of the patents Sonos alleges were infringed, it said. Sonos also gave no evidence to back its “bare assertion” that smart speaker prices would rise only slightly from an import ban, said Google. Low price is “the most important factor for US consumers in purchasing a voice-controlled smart speaker,” and an import ban would harm the public interest if prices increased significantly, it said. Sonos didn't file a response.

A University of Michigan engineering professor accused Apple of stealing his invention for a wrist-mountable heart-rate monitor and using it in the Apple Watch. Apple is guilty of willful infringement of U.S. patent 10,517,484 because the professor, Mohammed Islam, discussed his then-patent-pending invention with Apple employees in at least three face-to-face meetings in Cupertino, California, between June 2014 and July 2016, alleged his complaint (in Pacer) Friday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco. Islam offered to license his technology to Apple during the encounters and in follow-up emails, but the company "declined," said the complaint. Apple emailed Islam in December 2017 and abruptly asked him to stop sharing his invention with the company, it said. Islam seeks damages “adequate to compensate for Apple’s infringement,” plus an order “permanently enjoining” the company from further infringement, it said. Apple didn’t comment Monday. Islam’s complaint is at least the second in recent weeks from an academic accusing Apple of misappropriating patents for cardiovascular functionality in the Apple Watch. Dr. Joseph Wiesel, a board-certified cardiologist on the faculty of the New York University School of Medicine, alleged last month that Apple stole his atrial fibrillation-detection invention and built it into the wearable, also after numerous “engagements” with the company in which he tried unsuccessfully to strike a licensing arrangement (see 1912310002).

The Supreme Court on Monday declined to review three patent eligibility cases challenging the high court’s Alice decision (see 1406200031). The high court denied certiorari for Chargepoint v. Semaconnect and two separate cases titled Trading Technologies Int’l v. IBG.

Though President Donald Trump “initiated these tariff actions, in part, to address the issue of intellectual property rights for American businesses in trade with China,” TCL warned effects may be more widespread. “Rather than be sanctioned under 301 tariffs, TCL’s partnership with Roku should serve as a model for ensuring the proper protection and compensation of American creators and owners of intellectual property for products manufactured in China.” If TCL North America can’t win the exclusions it seeks from 15 percent List 4A Trade Act Section 301 tariffs it has paid since Sept. 1 on flat-panel TV imports from China, it wants the Trump administration to weigh “reallocating” TVs to List 4B where there’s no current tariff exposure. TCL filed exemption requests Thursday at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative docket on 8528.72.64.30, 8528.72.64.40 and 8528.72.64.60 classifications. The “sole available source of LCD panels and supporting material components is China,” said the applications.

The order Sonos seeks on Google smart speakers would disproportionately harm Americans with disabilities, advocates warned. They want the International Trade Commission to reject the proposed import ban. Sonos alleges Google “misappropriation” of five Sonos patents (see 2001070041). Google denies that. Smart speakers “provide a significant opportunity for improving the accessibility of the home and even office environments,” commented the American Foundation for the Blind. They “may provide important content, such as on-demand weather reports, news, music, and podcasts, to individuals who do not use computers or smartphones,” AFB said. “This benefit may be especially important to people who are still acquiring assistive technology skills.” Groups including Public Knowledge and R Street Institute worry U.S. "consumer and economic welfare" would be hurt by banned imports of “mobile phones, tablets, and laptops” covered in the proposed exclusion order, they told the ITC. They cited the breadth of the Sonos-sought order, "narrow nature of the asserted patent claims, and the availability of full relief under the U.S. patent law." The ITC "should recognize that the interest in enforcing complainant’s patent rights is only weakly implicated in this requested investigation," said the groups. The Center for Democracy & Technology said blind and visually impaired individuals rely on voice-activated speakers “to make their homes work efficiently.” Seniors "who depend on voice-activated speakers are particularly sensitive to market exclusion orders that deprive them of the benefits of competition,” CDT wrote. The Computer & Communications Industry Association and Developer's Alliance criticized what they said was the overly wide scope of the proposed import ban. "Excluding personal mobile electronic devices such as those identified in the complaint risks depriving American consumers of basic modern communication tools, even though those devices are not themselves alleged to contain any infringing functionality," they said.

Antitrust authorities cleared the way for Xperi to buy TiVo. The all-stock deal has an enterprise value of $3 billion and is expected to close in Q2 (see report, Dec. 20). An FTC early termination notice dated Tuesday and released Wednesday ended the transaction's Hart-Scott-Rodino waiting period.

The Copyright Office extended to March 19 the deadline for comments on a notice of inquiry on applying the statutory definition of publication to the online context, it said Tuesday. Replies now are due April 16.

The Entertainment Merchants Association, which launched in 1984 as the Video Software Dealers Association, has rebranded again to reflect industry changes, it said Friday. The group now is the Over The Top Exchange (OTT.X). It said it's widening its reach to encompass “all OTT means,” including transactional-, advertising-based and subscription VOD. The organization said it will support digital retailers, channels, content providers, networks, platforms and MVPDs.