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NY Attorney General Files Action Against B&H Photo Video Alleging Multi-Million Dollar Tax Dodge

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Whistleblower Notified Authorities

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New York State Attorney General Letitia James has filed a lawsuit against B&H Photo Video alleging that the NY retailer has operated a scheme to avoid paying the State of New York millions of dollars in taxes on money earned from manufacturer reimbursements. The State says B&H violated New York Tax Law, New York Executive Law, and the New York False Claims Act, and for this reason is asking the court for treble damages that are potentially in the tens of millions of dollars.

See more on the NY AG vs. B&H Photo Video…

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Giving No Ground, Lenbrook Launches Robust Retaliation to Sonos Lawsuit

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After receiving a stipulation allowing them more time to respond, Lenbrook Industries Ltd, and Lenbrook America, last week filed their response to the Sonos patent litigation they were hit with in June. It was a robust and smart response that clearly communicated that Lenbrook planned to give no ground in this dispute.

While perhaps not quite as audacious as the D&M response when they were first dealt the blow of litigation…Lenbrook offered a smart and savvy response that not only pushed back but seemingly undercuts many of Sonos’ core allegations..and patents.

Sonos v Lenbrook is heating up…who has the advantage?…

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Did Control4 Just Try to End-Run Multiple Shareholder Lawsuits?

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Photo of Martin Plaehn, CEO of Control4

As Strata-gee recently reported, there are currently seven active lawsuits that have been filed against Control4 and their Board of Directors in the wake of their acquisition by SnapAV. In a new DEFA14A filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission last Friday, the company addresses the issue of these lawsuits – saying that they are going to fight them. But then they do something very curious – they file an amendment to their original Schedule 14A filing, their Proxy Statement, with added information that appears to add missing material in response to allegations in the lawsuits filed against them.

Is Control4 trying to end-run the litigation just days before shareholders vote? See more below…

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Control4 Hit With Another Class Action Lawsuit by Shareholders

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The Control4 Corporation has been hit with another class action lawsuit filed on behalf of all shareholders of their stock in connection with their acquisition by Wirepath Home Systems, LLC – better known as SnapAV. Filed by the law firm of Rigrodsky & Long, P.A., the lawsuit alleges certain violations of Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and names both Control4 and its Board of Directors as defendants.

See more on this litigation against Control4…

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Lenbrook Responds to Sonos Lawsuit, It Will ‘Defend Vigorously the Claims’

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Lenbrook Group logo

Strata-gee reported yesterday that late last week Sonos had filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Lenbrook Industries Limited and Lenbrook America. This suit, which is almost identical to the one Sonos had successfully pursued with D&M Holdings and Denon over its HEOS line, was resolved in Sonos’s favor a little over a year ago.

Now we have Lenbrook’s response to this development – the company says it will “defend vigorously the claims of patent infringement made by computer audio company Sonos…”

See what else Lenbrook had to say about the Sonos suit…

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Music System Sales Sagging, Sonos Un-Leashes Lawyers to Raise Revenues

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BREAKING NEWS

Sonos system photo

Strata-gee reported just yesterday that Sonos, Inc. has sued Lenbrook Industries Ltd. & Lenbrook America – the maker & marketer of Bluesound – for patent infringement. Undoubtedly emboldened by their near-complete victory over Denon’s HEOS brand a little over a year ago, Sonos appears to have targeted Lenbrook to be next in line.

However, Strata-gee has learned that Lenbrook is not the only company targeted for such potential actions by Sonos. There are more – perhaps many more – in our industry lined up for this “hit” parade.

See what Strata-gee learned about Sono’s legal strategy…

[Read more…] about Music System Sales Sagging, Sonos Un-Leashes Lawyers to Raise Revenues

Denon Defeated, Sonos Sics Lawyers on Lenbrook

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Sonos logo

On Thursday last week, Sonos, Inc. (NASDAQ: SONO) filed another patent infringement lawsuit, this time against Lenbrook Industries Limited and Lenbrook America Corp. At issue here is Lenbrook’s Bluesound brand launched back in 2013 to great fanfare as Strata-gee reported on at the time…and also discussed here…and which Sonos claims infringes on multiple Sonos patents.

See more on the Sonos suit vs Lenbrook…

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SEC Rejects Monster Cryptocurrency Filing, Notes ‘Serious Deficiencies’

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Monster Changes: Prez/COO & Auditor are Terminated, Three-Man Board is Now Only One

Photo of Noel LeeIn June, after significant outreach by many Strata-gee readers, we posted our take on the Monster Products, Inc. (Monster) S-1 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in which Monster sought to launch its own Monster Money cryptocurrency in a major shift in the company’s direction. This SEC filing by Monster was at the end of May, and our story [see: Is Monster Money a Massive Mistake?] was posted June 13th.

We have just discovered that days after our story appeared, Monster received an SEC staff letter dated June 15th titled “SERIOUS DEFICIENCIES.” But that’s not all we discovered…

See more on Monster’s S-1 rejection and other major news we’ve uncovered… [Read more…] about SEC Rejects Monster Cryptocurrency Filing, Notes ‘Serious Deficiencies’

EU Hits Pioneer, D&M, Philips & Asus with Fines for Price Fixing

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Asus logoThe European Commission, the EU’s antitrust regulatory unit, after a 17-month investigation of online price fixing and other illegal anti-competitive practices has levied a fine of €111.2 million ($130 million) against four prominent consumer electronics brands, including Pioneer Corp., D&M Holdings Inc. of Japan, Koninklijke Philips NV of the Netherlands, and AsusTek Computer, Inc. of Taiwan. The companies were alleged to have imposed fixed or minimum online prices for their products.

See more on this strong action by European regulators… [Read more…] about EU Hits Pioneer, D&M, Philips & Asus with Fines for Price Fixing

Sonos v. HEOS – War is Over, Peace Has Come

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hippie family w/peace signOn Friday last week, we learned that Sonos and D&M Holdings have settled their litigation, first begun in October 2014. Although the terms of the settlement are confidential, all actions taken by each party are now moot.

It is likely that the parties now enjoy some form of licensing arrangement that put all adversarial issues behind them.

See more on what we know about the end of the Sonos and D&M patent war… [Read more…] about Sonos v. HEOS – War is Over, Peace Has Come