Propping up the online pirating of TV shows, movies, games and live events is an estimated $1.34 billion in annual revenue from ads on websites and illicit streaming apps, said a report Thursday by Digital Citizens Alliance and White Bullet. It said website advertising dominates, getting about $1.1 billion of that, though apps appear to be more profitable and are growing rapidly. When combined with subscription revenue, piracy platform operators generate an estimated $2.34 billion revenue annually, it said. The study said major Fortune 500 brands paid pirate operators an estimated $100 million last year, and 25% of ads on piracy apps are from well-known companies. It said big brands have made a concerted effort in the past eight years to stop their ads from showing up on illicit websites.

Universal Electronics Inc. got a favorable initial determination in an International Trade Commission patent infringement case against Roku. UEI CEO Paul Arling said the ITC judge recommended issuing a limited exclusion and cease and desist order. The finding is under review by commissioners, with a final determination, “including the issuance of the limited exclusion and cease and desist orders,” expected by Nov. 10, he told investors Thursday. See Q2 materials here and here and our report 2108060033. Roku didn't comment Friday. Arling said LG, Microsoft and Samsung license UEI’s IP. The patents involve QuickSet, he said. UEI stock closed up 7.4 Friday at $48.03.

A judge asked if district court proceedings should be stayed until the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rules on Florida's appeal of a preliminary injunction against the state's social media law. Parties should respond by Aug. 18 in case 21-cv-00220-RH-MAF, U.S. District Court Judge Robert Hinkle ruled Wednesday. Hinkle set trial for June 6 next year after discovery wraps Feb. 7. Florida wanted until May for discovery (see 2108030053).

CEO Jon Kirchner highlighted Xperi's media IP business on a Q2 call. (See Q2 materials here.) He called it a top strategic growth area as its pay-TV business declines along with industry trends. Revenue in that segment fell 9% year on year to $54 million, Kirchner said Tuesday. IP licensing revenue was $101.8 million, media IP revenue up 40% as Comcast, Fox, Google and others renewed and/or expanded licenses. Total Xperi sales fell 4.7% to $222.3 million.

Amid ransomware attacks, the Advanced Television Systems Committee takes security of the 3.0 standards and deployment “very seriously,” said President Madeleine Noland. “We are vigilant” about security, she told us Friday. “It is not an afterthought. It is absolutely one of the most important parts of the standard.” 3.0 security “was built in and considered from the very beginning,” she said. The A/360 document in the suite of 3.0 standards on security and service protection was approved two years ago and was last updated in February. A third A/360 amendment on updated system encryption is in the candidate standard process that runs through Dec. 31. The 3.0 standards say “all the executable code shall be signed” cryptographically with a specified “key structure,” she said. “The receiver is able to look at that signature and determine whether or not the executable came from a bona fide source.” And “all the signaling structures” for audio and video, emergency alerting and other service features “must be signed” by the broadcaster, Noland said. “It would be very difficult for a man-in-the-middle attack to come in and sort of take over.” ATSC’s S36 specialist group on 3.0 security, chaired by Sony Director-Technical Standards Adam Goldberg, “meets on a regular basis, and they always have their ear to the rail,” Noland noted. Broadcasters have been hit by other ransomware attacks. (See our recent report here.)

ViacomCBS and Cox Communications signed a multiyear distribution deal keeping the programmer's cable content on the MVPD's channel lineup and covering retransmission consent of CBS stations in Los Angeles, ViacomCBS said Tuesday. This expands Cox subscriber access to ViacomCBS streaming services.

Cox Communications is liable for copyright infringement on peer-to-peer networks it oversees, publisher and songwriter groups wrote in a brief filed Friday in docket 1:18-cv-950-LO/JFA (in Pacer). The National Music Publishers' Association, Nashville Songwriters Association International and Songwriters Association of North America wrote the brief filed with the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. “Resist Cox’s invitation to dodge responsibility and thereby prompt a race to the bottom in infringement enforcement by the very platforms best positioned to put a halt to online piracy,” they wrote. Cox didn’t comment.

Incompas asked the FCC for more certainty on secure telephone identity revisited (Stir) and signature-based handling of asserted information using tokens (Shaken) rules, urging tweaks to rules on appeals when a provider’s service provider code is revoked. The FCC has a role to play in considering appeals, said a filing posted Thursday in docket 21-291. Incompas “would prefer the Commission set a time limit on its review period.” Commissioners vote this coming Thursday (see 2107150066).

The NextGenTV certification mark for ATSC 3.0-compliant TVs was “first used in commerce by persons authorized” by applicant CTA “at least as early as March 1, 2020, and is now in use in such commerce,” said the association’s statement of use (SOU), dated July 1 and newly posted at the Patent and Trademark Office. “Applicant is exercising legitimate control over the use of the certification mark in connection with the identified goods” but is “not engaged in the production or marketing of the goods to which the mark is applied,” it said. PTO requires the SOU as the last step in the trademark application process before issuing a registration certificate, and does so to prevent applicants from hoarding trademarks. “CTA have set up a Test Repository for ATSC 3.0 Test Material, to facilitate the upload of test materials representing ‘typical’ emissions from current trials, and the subsequent download for use to test and certify consumer devices,” says a redacted Eurofins test specification document accompanying the SOU. Eurofins developed the 3.0 receiver conformance test suite under contract with CTA and showcased it at the April 2019 NAB Show in Las Vegas (see 1903270038). Only test suite licensee and “contributor” users have access to the repository, says the document. Contributor access “is afforded to CTA, NAB and ATSC members and their appointed representatives” for searching, but not for downloading, interoperability and documentation materials, it said. Manufacturers aren't required under the NextGenTV logo license “to retrospectively test previously certified devices” against later releases of the test suite, says the document. It's the manufacturer’s “sole responsibility to establish its own testing specifications and program to ensure interoperability” with compliant NextGenTV services, it says. “Company shall be solely responsible for all testing results.”

Global time spent watching content on Snap grew year over year, “while lapping the boost in engagement we saw at the onset" of COVID-19, CEO Evan Spiegel told a Q2 call Thursday. “We have also observed a year-over-year decrease in daily time spent” watching user-generated content created by friends, “even as the number of daily viewers of that content has grown,” he said. Snap attributes this partly to declining daily posting activity “coinciding with mobility restrictions and behaviors" due to the pandemic, "which reduces the amount of content created by friends,” he said. The stock closed 23.8% higher Friday at $77.97 after Snap significantly exceeded revenue and profit forecasts for the quarter.