An employee who works to repair marine containers is a maritime employee, even though he never goes to sea or loads or unloads ships, said an opinion by the Fifth U.S. Appeals Court, New Orleans. The decision upheld an administrative law judge's reasoning in a workmen's compensation case (New Orleans Depot Services V. Director, Office of Worker's Compensation Programs, U.S. Department of Labor; New Orleans Marine Contractors; and Signal Mutual Indemnity Association Limited.

A southeast Texas man pleaded guilty Thursday of conspiring to traffic in counterfeit CHI hair care products, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement said. Eric White, an Internet seller of hair care products, admitted he imported and resold counterfeit CHI hair irons, which are manufactured by Farouk Systems, from April to September 2010, ICE said. White imported the counterfeit hair irons from China and sold them on the Internet through his company, Royal Cosmo. After three CBP seizures of White’s hair irons and a cease-and-desist letter from Farouk, ICE seized 147 counterfeit hair irons at White’s home in September 2010, it said. White faces up to five years in prison and a maximum $250,000 fine.

The Court of International Trade sustained the results of a remand redetermination of the final results of the 2005-06 administrative review of ball bearings and parts thereof from France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Singapore, and the United Kingdom (A--427--801, A--428--801, A--475--801, A--588--804, A--559--801, and A--412--801). CIT said the International Trade Administration’s remand redetermination provided adequate explanations to address plaintiff SKF’s concerns that (1) by constructing normal value using the unaffiliated supplier’s costs of production SKF would be unable to adjust its pricing to avoid dumping or decrease its antidumping duty liability because it would lack knowledge of its supplier’s production cost data; and (2) the ITA would apply adverse facts available (AFA) if the unaffiliated supplier failed to provide cost data. The remand was pursuant to a 2011 ruling by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

The Court of International Trade remanded the final determination in the antidumping duty investigation of certain steel grating from China (A-570-947), and ordered the International Trade Administration to (1) redetermine the AD margin for non-individually investigated separate rate recipients Yantai Xinke Steel Structure and Ningbo Haitian International; and (2) determine a separate rate for mandatory respondent Ningbo Jiulong Machinery, which the ITA had determined to be part of the China-wide entity when it applied adverse facts available (AFA). CIT also sustained the ITA’s decision to apply AFA to Jiulong.

The U.S. Court of International Trade granted a Justice Department motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction in the case of Chrysal USA vs. the U.S. Chrysal had sought to challenge the tariff classification of "flower food" which was among the various products included in 17 entries of merchandise that Chrysal imported into the U.S. in 2008.

The California Attorney General's Office filed a complaint against 16 businesses that have allegedly been supplying retailers or directly selling Californians jewelry containing high levels of lead, some of it imported from Asia, according to the California Environmental Protection Agency. The jewelry items contained metals which are potentially toxic to people, especially young children, the complaint said.

ObjectVideo said it would file an unopposed motion to remove Samsung from an ongoing U.S. International Trade Commission investigation pertaining to video analytic technology products from Robert Bosch GmbH and Bosch Security Systems. "Both parties agreed this was the appropriate next step as part of our continued efforts to resolve the dispute between the companies," said Raul Fernandez, CEO of ObjectVideo. The trial involving other parties in the case was to begin on schedule July 18 at the USITC. The patents in the suit include U.S. patent numbers 6,696,945; 6,970,083; 7,613,324; 7,868,912; and 7,932,923.

The U.S. Court of International Trade granted the U.S. government's motion to dismiss Acme Furniture Industry, Inc. vs. the U.S., in a decision July 18. The government had said Acme failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, but Acme said it was challenging an erroneous reliquidation by the CBP, so its challenge falls within section 1581(a).

Geoffrey B. Roose, of Corvallis, Ore., was sentenced Friday to 10 months in federal prison for attempting to sell export restricted military-grade equipment to overseas buyers in violation of the Arms Export Control Act, said Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Roose had pleaded guilty in March. According to court documents, investigators sent a message via eBay advising Roose that the scopes he was auctioning were restricted for export to which Roose responded with "Thanks." Despite the warning, he didn't end his auction, ICE said. Undercover ICE special agents then purchased one of the military-grade rifle scopes and had it shipped to a European address. Roose shipped the order, which was seized before it left the country, ICE said. On the customs declaration, Roose identified the $1,700 scope as "telescope w/Mount" valued at $150.

The Court of International Trade dismissed Nan Ya Plastics Corporation’s bid for monetary benefits under the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act (CDSOA, aka the Byrd Amendment). Nan Ya had originally been a petitioner in the 1999 antidumping investigations of polyester staple fiber from Korea and Taiwan, but withdrew its support mid-investigation. CIT ruled that the International Trade Commission’s exclusion of Nan Ya from the affected domestic producer (ADP) list of firms eligible for CDSOA benefits was in accordance with the law and, as has been the case in past CIT decisions, dismissed Nan Ya’s First Amendment free speech claims and Fifth Amendment equal protection claims as foreclosed by the precedent of the court of appeals’ ruling in SKF v. U.S. CIT also said the retroactivity of CDSOA (domestic companies did not know that non-support of the petition would prevent CDSOA funds distribution at the time of the investigation) does not violate the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment because Congress had a rational legislative purpose. (CIT Slip Op. 12-92, dated 07/12/12, Judges Carman, Stanceu, and Gordon)