German paper exporter Koehler further defended its bid for an interlocutory appeal of the Court of International Trade's decision allowing the government to effect service on the company through its U.S. counsel (United States v. Koehler Oberkirch GmbH, CIT # 24-00014).

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Sept. 24 recaptioned an appeal of an antidumping duty case after importer Worldwide Distribution said it no longer wishes to take part in the case, given that it failed to file a notice of appeal (see 2409160010). As a result, the court lifted the stay in the case and gave exporter Sahamitr Pressure Container 60 days to file its opening brief. Sahamitr originally brought suit to challenge the 2019-20 review of the AD order on steel propane cylinders from Thailand. The Court of International Trade said Sahamitr failed to undermine Commerce's finding that the company's monthly-based calculation of its sales costs were distortive (see 2405020029) (Sahamitr Pressure Container v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 24-2043).

The U.S. and importer Cozy Comfort traded briefs at the Court of International Trade seeking to discredit the other side's evidence ahead of a bench trial on the classification of the importer's wearable blanket, called The Comfy (Cozy Comfort Company v. United States, CIT # 22-00173).

The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:

Importer Acquisition 362, doing business as Strategic Import Supply, filed separate notices of dismissal in two cases at the Court of International Trade. In both cases, the importer said CBP refused to explain why it denied a protest on its vehicle parts after the agency assessed antidumping duties 78.55% higher than it had been assigned in a past AD review (see 2407240019 and 2408090021). The cases both said CBP failed to provide adequate reasoning for denying the protests. In one, the company said the protest denial improperly centered on a message from the Commerce Department, which it wasn't given access to. Counsel for the importer didn't immediately respond to request for comment (Acquisition 362, LLC dba Strategic Import Supply, LLC v. U.S., CIT #s 24-00124, -00149).

The International Trade Commission on Sept. 23 opposed exporter Eregli Demir ve Celik Fabrikalari's (Erdemir's) motion to consolidate three of its appeals at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit involving the sunset review of the antidumping duty order on hot-rolled steel flat products from Turkey (Eregli Demir ve Celik Fabrikalari v. International Trade Commission, Fed. Cir. # 24-2242).

The U.S. pushed back Sept. 20 against a Turkish steel exporter’s argument that the Commerce Department shouldn’t have determined during a review that its “sale dates” are the invoice dates, rather than dates of contract (see 2407250026) (Kaptan Demir Celik Endustrisi ve Ticaret v. United States, CIT # 24-00018).

The “current technological reality of implementing” a Texas bill requiring age-verification on porn websites “means that it will burden adults’ access to constitutionally protected speech,” said the Center for Democracy and Technology, other nonprofits and three privacy professors in an amicus brief Friday. The groups and academics supported a challenge by the Free Speech Coalition of a Texas law at the U.S. Supreme Court. FSC is a porn industry trade association represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (see 2409170012). “The limitations of current age verification technology -- and the difference between the internet’s inherent capability to transmit and make available uploaded identifying data and the ability of a stationery-store owner to recall such data from a quick flash of ID -- create a significantly higher burden on adult access to protected content,” the amici wrote in case 23-50627. Several other groups also supported the FSC in amicus briefs posted Monday. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, Reason Foundation and the First Amendment Lawyers Association said jointly that the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals incorrectly granted the state “a free hand to force adult Texans to show their papers and surrender their privacy simply to access content protected by the First Amendment.” Another amici filing including TechFreedom and the Electronic Frontier Foundation said the 5th Circuit erroneously applied rational-basis review rather than strict scrutiny. Along similar lines, the Cato Institute wrote, “It is the government’s burden to prove that the law serves a compelling government interest and uses the least restrictive means to achieve that interest. Texas did not clear this high bar.” Agreeing with others, the Electronic Privacy Information Center wrote that it’s “important for [SCOTUS] to take special care in this case to apply a constitutional framework capable of distinguishing unconstitutional censorship laws from constitutional kids’ privacy and safety laws.” Meanwhile, the Institute for Justice said the Supreme Court should use the case to stop a “growing problem” of courts “selecting the standard of review based on the government’s professed motive rather than by examining the actual conduct subject to regulation under the law.” A group of internet law professors, including Eric Goldman of Santa Clara University's High Tech Law Institute, said age-verification gates online are costly, raise privacy concerns when they collect sensitive data, and discourage “readers from accessing constitutionally protected material.”

The European Commission on Sept. 23 filed a consultation request at the World Trade Organization on China's decision to open a countervailing duty investigation on certain dairy products from the EU, the commission announced. The challenge marks the first time the EU has contested a decision to initiate an investigation, the EU said.

The European Commission on Sept. 23 filed a consultation request at the World Trade Organization on China's decision to open a countervailing duty investigation on certain dairy products from the EU, the commission announced. The challenge marks the first time the EU has contested a decision to initiate an investigation, the EU said.