The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied Twitter’s request for a rehearing in the company’s lawsuit against Texas over a state investigation related to the platform’s suspension of ex-President Donald Trump (see 2205250040 and 2204120056).
Demonstrating or creating public disturbances in the public areas of the Prettyman Courthouse and Bryant Annex are cause for removal from the courthouse and can result in contempt sanctions and/or being barred from entering the courthouse in the future, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit said Tuesday, announcing a courthouse decorum policy.
Senior U.S. District Judge Colm Connolly for Delaware gave Nimitz Technologies a week to Dec. 21 to show cause why it shouldn't be sanctioned for ignoring his Nov. 10 order to produce bank statements and other documents and communications that would enable the judge to determine the source of any third-party funding of Nimitz’s patent infringement lawsuits against Bloomberg, BuzzFeed, Cnet and Imagine Learning, said his memorandum order Wednesday (docket 1:21-cv-01247). The U.S. Appeals Court for the Federal Circuit denied Nimitz’s mandamus petition to block a lower court’s demand for its financial records, saying in a Dec. 8 order it hasn't shown a clear and indisputable right to such relief (see 2212090027). In so doing, the Federal Circuit also lifted the stay on Connolly’s order to produce the documents. In the days that have passed since the Federal Circuit’s denial of the mandamus petition, Nimitz has yet to produce any of the materials the judge demanded, nor has it asked for more time, he said. Had Nimitz made a deadline extension request, Connolly would have granted it, he said. If Nimitz shows cause for its failure to comply with the order, he would “still be inclined to grant such a request,” he said.
Snake River Radio’s KPCQ(AM) Chubbuck, Idaho, was silent for 80% of its license term, repeatedly violated FCC public file requirements, and gave the agency conflicting and unverifiable information about the state of its transmission tower, said the FCC Enforcement Bureau in its case submission Monday in docket 22-53, Snake River’s license proceeding before the FCC’s administrative law judge. Snake River said in its own filing the matter stems from a misunderstanding by the broadcaster’s attorney, Jeffrey Timmons. Stations that are silent for more than 12 consecutive months automatically lose their broadcast license. According to the EB, Snake River notified the FCC in August 2018 that its broadcast tower had been dismantled but then said it had resumed broadcasting on the same tower in 2019 and then later that the same tower had been accidentally collapsed by a construction crew. The broadcaster was also unable to give the bureau contact information or evidence of written communications with the construction crew involved or an engineer it said had brought the station back online, or any evidence of a date for pictures it said were evidence that the tower was still up when the station said it was. “Snake River failed to provide any independent, credible evidence demonstrating that the Station’s tower remained standing beyond June 30, 2018 and until at least June 15, 2019,” said the Enforcement Bureau. The problem stems from a clerical error, said Snake River in its case submission. “The apparent discrepancy is due only to counsel’s drafting error when preparing and filing the silent STA request in August 2018 (unfortunately, contrary to the information provided by the client, Snake River, at that time),” the filing said. The misstatement “appears to be the whole basis for designation” of the license for hearing, the Snake River filing said. Even if the ALJ decides the station hasn’t automatically lost its license, the broadcaster hasn’t operated in the public interest, the EB said. Snake River missed numerous public file deadlines for issues/program lists, failed to maintain emergency alert system logs, and was late in responses in this proceeding, the EB said. “The public interest would be better served by encouraging parties to make the investments and efforts necessary to save failing stations, such as KCPQ,” said Snake River in its own submission. “Snake River requests that the Commission impose a lesser sanction, such as a short-term renewal of the Station’s license, as a more appropriate sanction.”
The major studios, plus Netflix, seek a final default judgment against PrimeWire and its co-conspirators that includes $20.7 million in “maximum statutory damages” for willful infringement of 138 copyrighted works, said their motion Tuesday (docket 2:21-cv-09317) in U.S. District Court for Central California in Los Angeles. The court previously granted the studios partial default judgment for liability and permanent injunctive relief, leaving the question of money damages for a future motion.
The Supreme Court should deny the tech industry’s attempt to throw out Florida’s entire social media content moderation law, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody (R) argued last week before the high court in docket 22-393 (see 2210280049).
FCC Administrative Law Judge Jane Halprin denied a motion from broadcaster Arm & Rage asking the ALJ to compel responses to its interrogatories from the FCC Enforcement Bureau, said an order in Tuesday’s Daily Digest, in docket 21-122. The questions involved were unlikely to lead to admissible evidence, Halprin ruled. Arm & Rage’s license for WJBE (AM) Powell, Tennessee was designated for hearing after principal Joseph Armstrong -- a former Tennessee state legislator -- was convicted of making a false statement on a 2008 tax form connected with profits from the sale of cigarette tax stamps after the legislature increased the state’s cigarette tax. Arm & Rage wanted the ALJ to compel responses to questions on whether WJBE’s violations of several FCC public file requirements were prejudicial, and on the bases for the EB’s contention that Armstrong isn’t fit to be an FCC licensee. “The basis for the character qualifications issue has been thoroughly explained in the order designating the case for hearing,” wrote Halprin. On the merits of the FCC public file rules, Halprin said “Arm & Rage appears to be trying to make the case that the proposed sanction is out of proportion to the violations.” That's an argument the broadcaster can make in its own case, but “the Enforcement Bureau’s opinion of its merits is not a useful or proper avenue of discovery,” Halprin said. Arm & Rage also urged the ALJ to excuse the broadcaster from answering any questions of the type the EB didn’t have to answer, to make the case “symmetrical.” Discovery in FCC hearing proceedings is “inherently” not symmetrical, Halprin said. “That is because in any FCC hearing proceeding concerning the actions of a Commission licensee, regardless of which party bears the burden of proof, the licensee is typically the repository of the relevant factual information at the center of the case.”
A bench trial is scheduled to begin March 6 at 10 a.m. EST in Marriott International’s trademark infringement complaint to thwart robocallers from impersonating Marriott telemarketers, said an order signed Thursday (docket 1:21-cv-00610) by senior U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga for Eastern Virginia in Alexandria. U.S. Magistrate Judge John Anderson, in a separate order Thursday, ruled that defendant Dynasty Marketing Group’s discovery responses “remain inadequate,” and that it failed to provide a witness for deposition, in violation of court rules. Anderson granted the motion of Phillip Griffin to withdraw as Dynasty’s lawyer and ordered substitute counsel to enter an appearance on Dynasty’s behalf within 14 days. Anderson will then issue a recommendation and report on next steps in the case, including possible sanctions against Dynasty for being unresponsive to Marriott’s discovery requests.
Defendant Dynasty Marketing Group continues its “pattern of noncompliance” with Marriott International’s discovery requests in the trademark infringement lawsuit to curb robocallers from impersonating Marriott telemarketers, said Marriott’s filing Wednesday (docket 1:21-cv-00610) in U.S. District Court for Eastern Virginia in Alexandria in support of its third motion to compel discovery (see 2211150002). Marriott pressed again for sanctions against Dynasty for its “continued failure to comply” with the court’s instructions. Dynasty has failed to provide “separate written responses” to each Marriott discovery request, despite the court’s earlier warnings to so, said the filing. It also failed to respond “substantively and fully to requests to which no objections were filed,” instead “cherry-picking a few documents for production,” it said. Dynasty also failed to produce a witness for deposition, it said. The court permitted Dynasty “multiple opportunities to cure known discovery deficiencies, but its responses and productions remain deficient, and Dynasty’s refusal to provide a witness for deposition has continued,” it said.
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