Here’s a quick update on recent activity affecting the U.S. International Trade Commission, which conducts unfair trade practices investigations under the authority of §337 of the Tariff Act of 1930, codified at 19 U.S.C. §1337. (One such unfair trade practice is importing goods that infringe U.S. patents. If the ITC finds a §337 violation, it may issue an “exclusion order” preventing the importation of the offending goods into the United States. While the ITC cannot provide monetary damages, the injunctive relief of the exclusion order is a powerful remedy.)
Congress has amped up its oversight of the ITC this month with two oversight hearings within a single week. On July 11, 2012, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the “Oversight of the Impact on Competition of Exclusion Orders to Enforce Standard-Essential Patents.” Representatives from the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission testified before the Senate committee. For a report on that hearing, check out Todd Ruger’s “In Patent Cases, Companies Looking Toward ITC, Not Fed. Court”, from The Legal Intelligencer‘s July 17, 2012 edition.
