The International Trade Commission is publishing notices in the Feb. 26 Federal Register on the following AD/CV injury, Section 337 patent, and other trade proceedings (any notices that warrant a more detailed summary will appear in another ITT article):
Neology filed a complaint alleging violations of Section 337 by imports of radio frequency identification (RFID) products that infringe its patents. The RFID products are mainly used for electronic vehicle registration and toll collection purposes, and Neology’s patent allows for secure verification of information from the devices. According to the complaint, Federal Signal Corporation and subsidiaries Federal Signal Technologies and Sirit Corp. imported and sold RFID products from Singapore, Taiwan and Israel that violated Neology’s patents. 3M Company later bought FSC’s RFID divisions, and continued to import and sell the products. RFID that violate Neology’s products are used on Detroit’s International Bridge and by the Utah Department of Transportation, Neology said. Neology is requesting limited exclusion and cease and desist orders. The company named the following proposed respondents to the investigation:
The International Trade Commission voted to begin a Section 337 investigation of wireless communications base stations (337-TA-871) to determine if 4G-LTE base stations imported and sold by Ericsson are infringing patents held by Adaptix. The products are used by wireless carriers to build networks. Adaptix is requesting limited exclusion and cease and desist orders.
The International Trade Administration published notices in the Feb. 26 Federal Register on the following AD/CV proceedings (any notices that announce changes to AD/CV duty rates, scope, affected firms, or effective dates will be detailed in another ITT article):
The International Trade Administration is extending the deadline to May 28 for its preliminary determination in the countervailing duty investigations of frozen warmwater shrimp from China, Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam (C-570-989, C-331-803, C-533-854, C-560-825, C-557-814, C-549-828, and C-552-815). Domestic industry requested the extension of the due date, the ITA said, which was originally set for March 25.
The International Trade Administration issued the preliminary results of its antidumping duty administrative review of silicon metal from China (A-570-806). The ITA preliminarily found that the only company being reviewed, Shanghai Jinneng International Trade Co., Ltd., had no shipments to the U.S. during the period of review. If this finding is confirmed in the final results, the ITA will maintain Shanghai Jinneng's AD cash deposit rate at the level set in previous reviews. These preliminary results are not in effect. The ITA may modify them in the final results of this review and change the estimated AD cash deposit rates for this company.
The International Trade Administration initiated a antidumping duty new shipper review for wooden bedroom furniture from China (A-570-890) at the request of Dongguan Chengcheng Furniture Co., Ltd. for merchandise it produces and exports to the U.S. The ITA will determine if Dongguan Chengcheng is eligible for an estimated AD cash deposit rate other than the China-wide entity rate it currently receives.
The Environmental Protection Agency is issuing several final rules amending maximum tolerances allowed for pesticides in agricultural products. The rules set maximum tolerances for pyraflufen-ethyl in milk, fat, meat, meat byproducts, peanuts, and peanut hay (here); and pyroxasulfone in soybean seed, forage, and hay (here). A final rule also amends tolerances for acetochlor in crop groups 15 (cereal grains) and 16 (forage, fodder and straw of cereal grains) to drop the exceptions for rice and rice straw (here). All three rules are effective Feb. 27.
On Feb. 25 the Food and Drug Administration posted new and revised versions of the following Import Alerts on the detention without physical examination of:
The Food and Drug Administration will continue to target imported cantaloupes at the border for sampling after two major outbreaks in recent years, it said in a letter to the cantaloupe industry. The letter encouraged the cantaloupe industry to “observe best practices already recognized by FDA and the industry as effective in reducing the risk of harmful contamination,” it said. The outbreaks occurred in 2011 and 2012 as a result of unsanitary conditions at domestic cantaloupe packinghouses, FDA said, and were caused by the bacterial pathogens listeria monocytogenes and salmonella.