After Amsted Industries, Inc. licensed its secret railcar wheel manufacturing processes to a Chinese manufacturer, a different firm, TianRui Group Company Limited hired key employees of the licensee (who had signed confidentiality agreements) and began exporting wheels made with the Amsted process to the U.S. The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld a section 337 ruling by the International Trade Commission that TianRui had misappropriated Amsted’s processes, and also agreed with the ITC that the domestic U.S. industry was injured or threatened by the resulting imports, even though the production processes at issue are not currently in use within the U.S. (A dissenting justice argued that the misappropriation of trade secrets occurred in China and concluded that “United States trade secret law simply does not extend to acts occurring entirely in China.“) (Appeal No. 2010-1395, dated 10/11/11)

The Food and Drug Administration states that Medisca, Inc., a New York corporation located in Plattsburgh, New York, and its President, Antonio Dos Santos, age 63, of Montreal, Canada, have pled guilty to a one count misdemeanor of introducing a misbranded drug, specifically somatropin (human growth hormone), into interstate commerce using misleading labeling. Dos Santos faces a maximum term of up to one year in prison, a $100,000 fine, up to 1 year of supervised release to follow any period of incarceration, and an order of restitution. Medisca faces a maximum term of five years probation, a $200,000 fine, and an order of restitution. In addition, Dos Santos and Medisca have agreed to forfeit over $1.7 million, which represents Medisca's gross profits from the unlawful drug sales.

The Justice Department has announced that Kexue Huang, a Chinese national, has pleaded guilty to one count of economic espionage to benefit a component of the Chinese government and one count of trade secrets theft, in violation of the Economic Espionage Act.

Chinese producers contested the International Trade Administration’s remand determinations for the November 2003 - October 2004 AD administrative review of fresh garlic from China, in which the agency markedly increased their dumping margins, to between 26.67% and 55.18%. The Court of International Trade faulted the agency for repeatedly choosing “admittedly distorted Indian import statistics over potentially ‘perfect’ price quotes,” and ordered it to recalculate costs for garlic bulbs, plastic jars and lids, and cardboard cartons, as well as labor costs, which the agency had acknowledged needed recalculation. See ITT’s Online Archives or 06/21/11 news, 11062120, for BP summary of the ITA’s new method of calculating the labor wage rate for non-market economies.) Slip Op. 11-119, dated 09/26/11)

Russian producer PSC VSMPO-AVISMA Corp. (together with affiliate VSMPO-Tirus, U.S., Inc.) elected to withhold its participation in the AD administrative review of magnesium metal from the Russian Federation for the period April 1, 2007 through March 31, 2008, and the International Trade Administration then assigned it an adverse AD duty rate of 43.58 percent, which the company argued was not connected to commercial reality. In response to remand instructions from the Court of International Trade, the ITA cited import statistics showing AVISMA’s U.S. prices during the period of review, at a time of a rising ruble value. The CIT concluded that the agency had sufficiently demonstrated that AVISMA could have dumped at a rate close to 43.58% and upheld that rate assignment. (Slip Op. 11-115, dated 09/15/11)

The Bureau of Industry and Security has announced that Jeng "Jay" Shih and his New York company, Sunrise Technologies and Trading Corporation, pleaded guilty on October 7, 2011 to conspiracy to illegally export U.S.-origin computers from the U.S. to Iran through the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Under the terms of the plea and related BIS civil and Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) settlements, Shih and his company will forfeit $1.25 million.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on September 26, 2011 ruled against the Port of Los Angeles’ concession plan rule that drayage truck drivers must be employees of licensed motor carriers (LMCs), but upheld four other contested concession requirements.

American Superconductor Corporation (AMSC) announced on September 14, 2011 that it is filing criminal and civil complaints in China against Sinovel Wind Group Co., Ltd. and other parties alleging the illegal use of AMSC's intellectual property. Based in part upon evidence obtained through AMSC and law enforcement investigations, AMSC believes that Sinovel illegally obtained and used AMSC's intellectual property to upgrade its 1.5 megawatt wind turbines in the field to meet proposed Chinese grid codes and to potentially allow for the use of core electrical components from other manufacturers.

The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has affirmed a Court of International Trade decision to uphold Custom's classification of LeMans Corporation's motocross jerseys and pants, and motorcycle jackets as apparel under Chapters 61 and 62 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule. The CAFC stated that the articles are not classifiable as sports equipment in Chapter 95 as they are designed for comfort, worn on the body, and because specialization doesn't exclude articles from being classified as apparel.

The Justice Department has announced that Danfoss Flensburg GmbH, formerly Danfoss Compressors GmbH, has agreed to plead guilty and to pay a $3 million criminal fine for its role in an international conspiracy to fix the prices of light commercial compressors, a type of refrigerant compressor used in devices such as water coolers and vending machines. Danfoss is the third company to be charged in the Justice Department’s ongoing investigation of the international conspiracy to fix the prices of refrigerant compressors.