28 January 2013Patents

USITC launches four section 337 investigations

The US International Trade Commission (USITC) has voted to launch four section 337 investigations into patent infringement claims made against companies based in the US, China, Taiwan, Germany and Sweden, including telecommunications company Ericsson.

Complainants include Samsung, which has accused Ericsson of infringing its patents covering wireless communications equipment; Massachusetts communications companies Nuance, Swype, Tegic and ZI Corporation, which have accused HanXiang Information Technology Co. of Shanghai and Personal Communications Devices of New York of infringing its smartphone touch keyboard patents, and US healthcare manufacturer Covidien, which has accused German manufacturer Pajunk of infringing its patents relating to dissection devices used by surgeons operating on hernias.

California company Speculative Product Design has also accused seven companies based in Taiwan, China and the US of violating section 337 of the US Tariff Act 1930 through the sale of protective cases used to protect handheld electronic devices.

The claimants in each case are seeking exclusion and cease and desist orders to stop US imports of the products involved.

The investigations were announced on Friday, 25 January and target dates for completion will be set within 45 days – in this case, by 11 March.

During this time, cases will be assigned to an administrative law judge at the USITC who will hold an evidentiary hearing to make an initial determination as to whether there has been a violation of section 337, which is designed to protect the intellectual property rights of US inventors. Determinations will then be reviewed by the ITC.

The number of section 337 complaints filed at the ITC has been steadily increasing – in 2011, the Commission reported a record number of filings and in 2012, a second courtroom was built to accommodate the growing number of hearings.

Carl Charneski, a former ITC administrative law judge and a partner at Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione, says this is evidence that the ITC’s complaint process is quicker and more efficient than other types of litigation.

“Complainants file at the ITC because of the lightning speed of its investigations, the promise of injunctive relief, if successful, and the high quality of the work of the Commission and its judges.  If time is of the essence to a complainant, and if that complainant needs injunctive relief, the ITC is in a class by itself,” he said.

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