The Supreme Court has ruled that Pentalpha Enterprises, Ltd., a subsidiary of Global-Tech Appliances, Inc., willfully blinded itself to the infringing nature of its actions, and is liable for induced patent infringement of a deep fryer invented by SEB S.A. Pentalpha had purchased an SEB fryer made for sale in a foreign market and copied all but the fryer’s cosmetic features. It then had an attorney look for patent infringment (none was found), without telling him that the fryer was copied. Pentalpha sold the fryers to Sunbeam, which resold them in the U.S. under its own trademarks. SEB sued Sunbeam for patent infringement and then sued Pentalpha, asserting that it had contravened 35 USC 271(b) by actively inducing Sunbeam and the other purchasers of Pentalpha fryers to sell or offer to sell them in violation of SEB’s patent rights.
The Food and Drug Administration, in a complaint filed by the Department of Justice, is seeking a permanent injunction against BCS African Wholesale Food Supply LLC (BCS African Wholesale) of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota and its principal officers. If granted, the injunction would force the defendants to stop importing, processing, and selling seafood products that can put consumers at risk for botulism or that may present other food safety hazards.
The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has ruled, in BenQ America Corporation v. U.S., to vacate a Court of International Trade decision to classify certain Dell™ LCD monitors1 as video monitors under HTS 8528 (5%) as opposed to duty-free automatic data processing (ADP) machines under HTS 8471. The CAFC remands the case to the CIT, which CAFC states should conduct a "principal use" analysis of the monitors to determine their correct classification.
The Department of Justice reports that Jorge Granados, former CEO of Latin Node Inc. (LatiNode), pleaded guilty to conspiring to pay bribes to government officials in Honduras in violation of the anti-bribery provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).
The Bureau of Industry and Security reports that Davoud Baniameri, an Iranian national residing in California, has pleaded guilty to charges relating to the illegal export of missile components and radio test sets from the U.S. to Iran via the United Arab Emirates.
The Court of International Trade issued a second remand covering the antidumping duty administrative review of stainless steel bar from India for the February 2005 --January 2006 period, ordering the International Trade Administration to conduct individual examinations of at least two additional respondents, and to recalculate dumping margins for any and all remaining unexamined respondents (the ITA had initially reviewed only two out of eight prospective respondents). The court also ordered the ITA to complete its additional calculations in 300 days, rather than the 365 days the ITA requested, and denied motions by three respondents to withdraw their requests for review. (See ITT’s Online Archives or 12/09/09 news, 09120955, for BP summary of the prior CIT remand decision.) (Slip Op. 11-61, dated 05/26/11)
The Justice Department has announced that EVA Airways Corporation has agreed to plead guilty and to pay a $13.2 million criminal fine for its role in a conspiracy to fix prices in the air cargo industry.
The Court of International Trade has ruled in Shah Brothers, Inc., v. U.S., that a 2009 amendment to 19 USC 1514 regarding U.S. Customs and Border Protection's tax collection authority over tobacco products, imported gutkha in this case, does not alter CBP's responsibility as the final agency decision-maker, and as a result, jurisdiction is not available under 28 USC 1581(i).
The Justice Department has announced that on May 26, 2011, Chun-Yu Zhao of Virginia and Donald Cone of Maryland, were convicted for their roles in a scheme to import and sell counterfeit Cisco-branded computer networking equipment.
The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit denied requests by the government, the International Trade Commission, and a domestic manufacturer to rehear a recent challenge to the ITC's determination that German light-weight thermal paper (LWTP) imports threatened the U.S. industry with injury. Overruling ITC and the Court of International Trade, CAFC issued a remand instructing ITC to examine prices and dumping margins of subcategories within a class or kind of subject merchandise.