Hauling manufacturers into the ITC [US International Trade commission

Abstract

Are US industries sitting ducks for foreign manufacturers' claims of patent infringement on US-made products? Mention the US International Trade Commission (ITC) to most US electronics manufacturers and they'll think of a federal agency that sues Japanese and other offshore manufacturers for patent infringement and bars their products from being imported into the US. Mention the ITC to most foreign manufacturers and they'll start complaining about a special US kangaroo court dedicated to harassment of foreign manufacturers. Now, a new side of this has emerged. The ITC may sue a US manufacturer for patent infringement, bar its goods from reentry into the US, and act to do these things at the behest of a foreign owner of a US patent. The new twist came out of a case involving sputtered, carbon-coated hard disks and the disk drives containing them. The ITC filed the case under section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930, which directs the ITC to bring a proceeding whenever foreign-made goods coming into the US infringe a US parent.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>