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The United States International Trade Commission (ITC) is an
independent, bi-partisan, quasi-judicial, federal agency of the
United States with broad investigative responsibilities on a
variety of matters of trade such as the effects of dumped and
subsidized imports on domestic industries. While the ITC
conducts global safeguard investigations, it has increasingly
adjudicated cases involving certain unfair trade practices, such
as subsidies, dumping, patent, trademark, and copyright
infringement, as well as patent infringement cases.
Section 337 investigations at the ITC look into allegations
of certain unfair practices in import trade, such as the
infringement of certain statutory intellectual property rights
and other forms of unfair competition in import trade. Today,
most Section 337 investigations involve allegations of patent or
registered trademark infringement, while it also covers other
forms of unfair competition, such as misappropriation of trade
secrets, trade dress infringement, passing off, false
advertising, and violations of the antitrust laws.
The United States International Trade Commission (ITC) is an
independent, bi-partisan, quasi-judicial, federal agency of the
United States that provides trade expertise to both the
legislative and executive branches. Further, the agency
determines the impact of imports on U.S. industries and directs
actions against certain unfair trade practices, such as
subsidies, dumping, patent, trademark, and copyright
infringement.
ITC's Section 337 is a unique tool that patent owners can use
to bar infringing imported products from entry into the United
States and prohibit the products’ sale in the United States.
Favorable judgments in Section 337 proceedings are especially
important to because rulings place the winning party in a strong
position over their competitors when it comes to licensing and
royalty issues—not to mention the complete elimination of
competitors that infringe a U.S. patent in the U.S. market.
ITC proceedings also offer advantages for the filing party as
well. First, ITC proceedings are much more streamlined and
fast-tracked than federal court litigation, as its responses to
discovery requests and motions are generally due within 10 days
of service compared to 30 days of the district courts. Thus,
with its tight deadlines, the complete the process of discovery,
hearing, initial Administrative Law Judge "ALJ" determination
and the final ITC determination are normally done in 15 months,
reducing legal fees and costs as a result of an expedited
proceeding.
Second, the ITC's jurisdiction is established nationwide as
has in rem jurisdiction over imported products accused of
infringing U.S. IP rights, no matter where the allegedly
infringing products or parts are imported into the United
States. Failure to respond may result in default, and the
defaulting party waives its right to participate in the
investigation but is subject to any remedy issued by the ITC.
Third, ITC investigations may have unlimited discoveries with
few limitations, compared to 25 interrogatories of the federal
courts. More over, ITC's nationwide jurisdiction permits
the ALJs to issue subpoenas throughout the United States, and
the ITC jurisdiction on imports allows it effectively to compel
discovery throughout the world against any named party, greatly
facilitating
discovery for the complainants.
Last, the remedies provided by the ITC also yield significant
benefits, as they are enforceable by U.S. Customs and the ITC
with little need for input by the complaining party. Although
the ITC does not provide for monetary remedies, a positive
result in a Section 337 investigation for a complainant can have
devastating consequences for respondents that import infringing
goods into the United States as the ITC may issue either a
“limited” exclusion order or a “general” exclusion order upon
determining that there is a violation of Section 337. A
limited exclusion order prevents importation into the United
States of infringing goods manufactured by enumerated respondent
foreign producers. A general exclusion order prevents the
importation of
all infringing goods irrespective of the foreign source.
Moreover, downstream products containing a component or part
found to violate Section 337 can be covered by a limited
exclusion order, effectively extending relief against a third
party that exports the downstream product to the United States.
In the United States, there are about a few dozen law firms
that specialize in ITC cases. We will introduce them to
you and provide you with insightful information in the future.
Because of the seriousness of ITC cases, the requirements on
the accuracies of the document translations and oral
interpretations are the most demanding in the translation and
interpretation industry. Only a handful of certified
Chinese translators and interpreters have had good reputation
for translating and interpreting for ITC cases. Please see
Professional Certified Court Interpreters with Intellectual
Property ITC Case Experiences for details. |
