A group of Dallas-based companies and their owner will pay a $120,000 penalty to settle charges that they illegally imported over 24,000 motorcycles and recreational vehicles that didn’t comply with the Clean Air Act, announced the Environmental Protection Agency on Jan. 6. Savoia, BMX Imports, BMX Trading, and their owner, Terry Zimmer, allegedly imported the vehicles from several foreign manufacturers into the U.S. through the Port of Long Beach, then sold them on the internet and at a retail location and Dallas. Through inspections at the Port of Long Beach and other ports of entry, EPA says it found out about 11,000 of the vehicles weren’t covered by certificates of conformity, 23,000 were sold without the required emissions warranty, and about 500 didn’t have proper emission control labels, all in violation of the Clean Air Act.

The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Dec. 24 found California-based Concord Farms guilty of trademark infringement for importing gray market Japanese mushrooms that were similar to, but not the same as, mushrooms sold by the Japanese company’s subsidiary in the United States. The ruling affirms a permanent injunction ordered by the Central California U.S. District Court in 2011 to block Concord Farms from importing and selling mushrooms made by Hokuto in Japan. The 9th Circuit found the lower court correctly concluded that the Hokuto mushrooms slightly differed from mushrooms distributed in the U.S. by Hokto USA, and so were not “genuine goods” protected from infringement claims.

The 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reversed on Dec. 30 a lower court’s award of damages from a third-party logistics provider to a Mexican import-export company for the loss of goods while in transit through the U.S. to Mexico. The Southern Texas U.S. District Court in October 2012 had ordered Transmaritime to pay Mexican import-export company Mari Jose $300,000 in damages for the loss of nearly 2,000 boxes of Christmas lights. The appeals court, however, found Mari Jose had failed to establish that the loss occurred while the goods were in Transmaritime’s possession.

Despite objections from importer Shah Brothers, the Court of International Trade on Dec. 27 dismissed a challenge to CBP’s tariff classification of the company’s tobacco product after the government conceded defeat. The decision to reliquidate the “gutkha” as chewing tobacco instead of snuff will result in a refund of excess excise taxes paid on the entries to Shah Bros. The importer wanted to continue its lawsuit on the grounds that CBP would continue to classify the Indian smokeless tobacco as snuff unless the court mandated a change to agency procedure. But the court said no controversy remained to litigate, and told Shah Bros. it could file another lawsuit if it found fault with CBP’s treatment of a future entry.

Best Key Textiles asked the Court of International Trade on Dec. 23 to reconsider its dismissal of the company’s challenge to CBP’s revocation of a ruling on the company’s metallized yarn. As a challenge under the Administrative Procedure Act to CBP’s alleged misconduct during the revocation proceeding, CIT can hear the case if it chooses, said Best Key. But if not, the interests of justice would best be served by transferring the case to a federal district court so Best Key can get a fair hearing, it said.

The Court of International Trade on Dec. 20 ordered the Commerce Department to rethink several aspects of the 2009-10 antidumping duty administrative review on preserved mushrooms from China (A-570-851). The court took issue with surrogate values Commerce used to calculate AD rates for Xiamen International Trade & Industrial. It also told Commerce to reconsider the AD rates assigned to non-individual respondents Iceman Group and Golden Banyan, finding fault with the use of Jinfeng’s aberrant 266.13% AD rate to calculate the review average rate.

The antidumping duty order on polyvinyl alcohol from Taiwan (A-583-841) is set to be revoked, after the Court of International Trade on Dec. 18 sustained a zero rate for the original investigation’s sole respondent. The court had in April ordered Commerce to rethink its 3.08% AD rate for Chang Chun Petrochemical (CCPC) because of quarrels over the agency’s application of targeted dumping regulations (see 13041127). Commerce’s recalculation resulted in CCPC’s AD rate falling to zero. Because CCPC was the only respondent in the original investigations, Commerce’s final determination would now become negative (no dumping), and AD duties on polyvinyl alcohol from Taiwan would end.

The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Dec. 16 upheld the International Trade Commission’s determination that some Motorola smartphones are infringing patents held by Microsoft, in violation of Section 337 of the Tariff Act. The ITC findings had resulted in imposition of a limited exclusion order in June 2012 banning imports of certain Motorola smartphones (see 12061304). CBP ruled in April that a design-around by Motorola allowed entry of products formerly subject to the exclusion order, which provoked an ongoing lawsuit from Microsoft at the District of Columbia U.S. District Court (see 13072301).

Nine defendants charged with smuggling counterfeit goods from China into the U.S. pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for New Jersey, said ICE in a press release. The defendants "ran one of the largest counterfeit goods smuggling and distribution conspiracies ever charged by the U.S. Department of Justice," said ICE. From 2009 to 2012, they "and others conspired to import hundreds of containers of counterfeit goods -- primarily handbags, footwear and perfume -- from China into the United States as part of the conspiracy. These goods, if legitimate, would have had a retail value of more than $300 million."

Correction: The Court of International Trade on Dec. 13 dismissed Best Key's lawsuit on yarn classification (see 13121317)..