http://www.usitc.gov/press_room/documents/featured_news/sec337factsupdate.pdf
The USITC is tasked with the goal of protecting US domestic industries against improper foreign competition. One major form of this goal is to prevent against foreign competition from unauthorized importation of patent goods. This would be filed under a 19 U.S.C. 1337 ("Section 337"). Due to this, a patentee can file both in the USITC and the Federal Courts.
The main distinction for a section 337 in the USITC vs. an equivalent form in the Federal Courts, is that the only result if a patent assertion is the blocking of importation of infringing goods. Furthermore, because the USITC is not bound by some previous injunctions that limit the importation power of patent infringements, patentees have a greater chance of asserting a Section 337.
As you can see, the 337 investigations have increased over the course of several decades. This has caused many to accuse the USITC to be improperly supporting the activities of patent licensing companies. On closer inspection, it seems the comments against USITC for supporting NPEs are unfounded. The # of NPEs have not grown substantially.This is interesting, because we read about many patent assertions between Apple, Google, Samsung, Microsoft, and many other companies. I had no idea the ultimate result would be a injunction on importation, a pretty serious result. Very interesting data that provides a different perspective on what we learn about specific patent cases.
Hi Eric,
ReplyDeleteGreat post.
Proper measures for protection of domestic goods and services is crucial in stimulating the US economy. It helps to fight counterfeiting practices from abroad.
Since we have no power of controlling patent infringement abroad in the US, this measure takes solid measures to ensure that at least we can fight off these counterfeiters from a huge economy, hopefully in the long run discouraging them from infringement.
ReplyDelete