The Justice Department has announced that the U.S. subsidiary of Belgian pharmaceutical manufacturer UCB SA has pleaded guilty to the off-label promotion of its epilepsy drug Keppra for use in the treatment of migraines, in violation of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic (FD&C) Act. UCB will pay more than $34 million to resolve criminal and civil liability arising out of its illegal conduct.
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.
A U.S. District Court judge has acquitted a former GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) lawyer, who was indicted for allegedly obstructing the Food and Drug Administration's investigation into whether the company illegally marketed its anti-depressant drug, Wellbutrin SR. The judge stated that certain documents provided in court that otherwise would have been privileged attorney-client documents were incorrectly obtained using the Crime Fraud Exception. The judge ruled that although Stevens' responses to FDA "may not have been perfect," they were "sent to the FDA in the course of her bona fide legal representation of a client and in good faith reliance of both external and internal lawyers for GSK," and therefore, was acquitted. Court document available by emailing documents@brokerpower.com.
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 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 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 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 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.