JTEKT North America, successor to Koyo Corporation, appealed the Court of International Trade’s March 13 denial of Koyo’s bid for funds under the Continued Dumping and Subsidization Offset Act (also known as the Byrd Amendment). Koyo, a domestic tapered roller bearing manufacturer, had said it should receive duties collected pursuant to various antidumping duty orders on tapered roller bearings. CIT said Koyo’s constitutional arguments were identical to those raised in Pat Huval v. U.S. (see 12031204). Just as in Pat Huval, the court dismissed all of Koyo’s claims as foreclosed by precedent (see 13031429).

A Chinese company appealed a decision by the Court of International Trade affirming the Commerce Department’s ability to impose countervailing duties on non-market economy countries, as well as its affirmative subsidy determinations for inputs at less-than-adequate remuneration (LTAR) from state-owned enterprises (see 13031404). The court had denied Guangdong Wireking’s broad constitutional challenge to CV duties on NMEs based on recent precedent approving the practice. Wireking’s other challenge on whether state-owned enterprises are “government authorities” that can bestow subsidies failed on the misunderstanding that “government authorities" have to exercise state authority. Instead, they just have to be owned by the government, CIT said.

Chemsol and MC International appealed the March 20 dismissal by the Court of International Trade of its challenge to CBP’s extensions of the liquidation deadline for its entries in the context of an investigation of antidumping and countervailing duty evasion (see 13032104). Plaintiffs Chemsol and MC International argued that the investigation was inactive because CBP and ICE had not requested new information from the companies, and so CBP was unjustified in its extensions. But the court said CBP was within its rights to extend the liquidation deadlines, because the investigation was active in that CBP was seeking information elsewhere. CBP isn’t restricted to seeking more information only from the investigated companies, it said.

The Court of International Trade vacated its August judgment against Nan Ya Plastics’ claim for funds under the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act (CDSOA, also known as the Byrd Amendment) (see 12071601). The court will now allow Nan Ya to file an amended complaint, in light of the Appeals Court’s July 2012 ruling in PS Chez Sidney v. International Trade Commission (see 12071604).

The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the International Trade Commission’s determination that imports of Nintendo’s Wii video game system are not violating Section 337 by infringing on Motiva’s patents. The ITC had found that Motiva was not in the process of establishing a domestic industry. The company’s only activity related to the patents being a lawsuit against Nintendo. The court said the ITC’s determination was supported by the record -- Motiva was not close to developing a product that would utilize the patented technologies, and hadn’t been actively attempting to develop one for years. CAFC also pointed to Motiva’s decision not to ask for a preliminary injunction in its lawsuit, as well as the delay of three years between the launch of the Wii and Motiva’s ITC complaint, to show that Motiva’s owners had only filed the lawsuit for financial gain, not to clear the way for establishing an industry in the U.S.

The Court of International Trade ruled that laser sintering machines that use an additive manufacturing process to build metal and plastic objects are correctly classified under residual provisions for machinery, instead of as machine tools or laser welders. Both EOS and the government argued that technology in each category has advanced beyond what the writers of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule provisions for those products could have anticipated. But CIT, turning to common definitions of each, said neither category could be stretched to include the laser sintering machines.

Riddell appealed a Court of International Trade decision that the company’s football pants, jerseys, and girdles are correctly classified for tariff purposes as apparel, and not sports equipment. The football uniform components were imported without pads, and as goods are classified in their condition as imported, they did not qualify as sports protective equipment, CIT had said (see 13032221).

Mueller Comercial appealed a Court of International Trade ruling that affirmed the Commerce Department’s decision to partially apply adverse facts available (AFA) to determine Mueller’s antidumping duty rate, despite Mueller’s full cooperation in the 2008-09 AD administrative review on circular welded non-alloy steel pipe from Mexico (A-201-805). Commerce had used AFA on incomplete cost data needed from one of Mueller’s suppliers. CIT said that the uncooperative supplier would have benefited from a lower AD rate without the partial application of AFA, so use of AFA was justified, despite the fact that Mueller cooperated. Despite ruling in December (see 12122604), the court didn’t enter judgment until May 2.

The Ancient Coin Collectors Guild (ACCG) is hopeful an April 22 forfeiture complaint filed by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland will allow the group to address a number of issues it hadn't yet been able to litigate over, said Peter Tompa, a lawyer with Bailey and Ehrenberg who is representing ACCG. "We are reviewing the forfeiture complaint and will file a claim and answer in the time frame allowed," he said by email.

A Taiwanese father and his Chicago-dwelling son were charged with allegedly conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, as well as circumventing Treasury Department sanctions, the Bureau of Industry and Security announced May 6. Hsien Tai Tsai, also known as Alex Tsai, and Yueh-Hsun Tsai, also known as Gary Tsai, were charged in U.S. District Court in Chicago with three counts each of conspiring to defraud the U.S. in its enforcement of laws and regulations prohibiting weapons of mass destruction proliferation, conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and money laundering.