In a dispute between Customs and the CIBA VISION Corp. over the correct Harmonized Tariff Schedule classification of a polymer solution used in the manufacture of daily disposable soft contact lenses, CIT denied motions for judgment by both CIBA and CBP because neither party had established the definition of “polyvinyl alcohol,” a term central to classification of the product.
The Court of International Trade remanded the final results of the 2008-10 antidumping administrative review of steel threaded rod from China (A-570-932) in order for the International Trade Administration to reconsider its rescission of the review with respect to Gem Year and placement of Gem Year in the China-wide entity. The ITA said Gem Year had no entries for which liquidation was suspended to review, ignoring Gem Year’s entries of subject merchandise that had been liquidated due to an error by an unaffiliated importer. But CIT said the ITA’s position that liquidated entries are unreviewable is unjustified by the statute and the regulations, because both only refer to “entries.”
A Japanese freight forwarding company agreed to plead guilty and pay a $2.3 million criminal fine for a conspiracy to fix fees for provision of freight forwarding services for air cargo shipments from Japan to the U.S., the Department of Justice said. It's the 14th company to agree to plead guilty as a result of the investigation, and to pay more than $100 million in criminal fines, DoJ said.
Norriseal, a division of Dover Energy, will pay a penalty of $22,000 as part of a settlement of anti-boycott charges by the Bureau of Industry and Security. According to the BIS order, Norriseal, a Texas-based manufacturer of valves and controls, furnished information concerning its business relationships in a boycotted country and failed to report boycott requests to BIS. Norriseal voluntarily disclosed the information to BIS, and the terms of the agreement did not include an admission of guilt by the company.
The Court of International Trade affirmed the countervailing duty rate determined for Yama Ribbons and Bows in the International Trade Administration’s final determination from the CV duty investigation of certain narrow woven ribbons with woven selvedge from China (C-570-953).
A New York City couple pleaded guilty to conspiring to import misclassified merchandise in a scheme to import and sell counterfeit Nike sneakers, said Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. ICE alleged that Ling Zhen Hu, 51, worked for an individual who imported thousands of pairs of sneakers from China that bore the Nike “swoosh” logo and Nike labeling, but were not genuine Nike sneakers. Hu then negotiated the sale of large quantities of the mislabeled sneakers to a Montreal man, Malik Bazzi, who then sold them to customers throughout the U.S. via his warehouses in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Hu’s husband, Xiao Cheng Lin, 50, delivered the sneakers to Bazzi, ICE said. According to ICE, the investigation revealed that Bazzi’s customers then sold the counterfeit Nike sneakers on the street and in retail stores for about half the price of genuine Nike sneakers.
Research in Motion appealed the International Trade Commission’s determination that it infringed a patent on cameraphones held by Kodak, according to a Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit docketing notice. In its investigation of certain mobile telephones and wireless communication devices featuring digital cameras and components thereof (337-TA-703), the ITC found that RIM infringed the patent at issue, but found no violation of Section 337 because of the patent’s obviousness. Kodak also filed an appeal Aug. 7.
The Court of International Trade remanded for a third time the International Trade Administration’s adverse facts available (AFA) rate for Orient1 in the 2007 administrative review of the antidumping duty order on wooden bedroom furniture from China (A-570-890). The ITA brought the rate down to 130.81% in its second remand redetermination (from 216.01% in the final results and first remand redetermination), but CIT said the rate is still not within the bounds of commercial reality. CIT also sustained the ITA’s use of another data set to determine the surrogate value for wood inputs.
A former Staff Sergeant in a U.S. Special Forces National Guard unit pleaded guilty Sept. 6 to violating the Arms Export Control Act. According to the Department of Justice, Joseph Debose, 30, of North Carolina, provided multiple shipments of firearms to co-conspirators who then secreted the weapons in packages and transported them to shipping companies to be sent to customers in China. The weapons included numerous semiautomatic handguns, rifles and shotguns, DoJ said. When sentenced, Debose faces up to 20 years in prison.
The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit adopted changes to its Appellate Mediation Program Guidelines regarding: (1) confidentiality; and (2) settlements that include terms concerning vacatur of a district court ruling. Changes are as follows: