The International Trade Commission voted Feb. 11 to not review an ITC administrative law judge's determination that found a Section 337 violation of in vitro fertilization drugs and equipment (ITC Inv. No. 337-TA-1196). The investigation followed a complaint, filed in March 2020 by EMD Serono, that alleged that Fast IVF, HermesPharmacy and General Plastik Drug Stores imported gray market products that copied trademarks held by EMD Serono and also are purported to be falsely advertised (see 2004220032). EMD Serono initially asked for a general exclusion order (see 2003180052) but changed to a request for a limited exclusion order after the commission vacated the summary determination. The ITC is seeking public comment on the form of remedy, if any, that should be ordered. Submissions are due to the ITC by Feb. 28.
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The Court of International Trade denied a motion to stay in a challenge to the all-others rate in a countervailing duty administrative review until a decision is made on a motion to dismiss the case. Denying the motion from petitioner Dexstar Wheel in a text order, Judge Mark Barnett ordered that a joint proposed briefing schedule be submitted by close of business on Feb. 15. Rimco filed the lawsuit challenging the Commerce Department's all-others rate in the countervailing duty review of steel wheels 12 to 16.5 inches in diameter from China. Dexstar argued that Commerce did not actually set an all-others rate in the review since the only two respondents for which rates were given received the China-wide adverse facts available rate. The petitioner moved to dismiss the case for failure to state a claim (see 2201250070) (Rimco v. United States, CIT #21-00588).
The Commerce Department reversed its decision to collapse two mandatory respondents and one of their affiliates in an antidumping duty investigation. In a bid to bring its stance in line with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Commerce said in Feb. 14 remand results submitted to the Court of International Trade that evidence to collapse all three entities was insufficient, particularly because evidence from the two mandatory respondents didn't show any common ownership. The agency also reinstated its use of adverse facts available over one of the respondents' reporting of its products' yield strength (Prosperity Tieh Enterprise Co., Ltd. v. United States, CIT #16-00138).
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Feb. 7-13:
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The Commerce Department complied with the Court of International Trade's remand instructions when it found that certain door thresholds qualify for the "finished merchandise" exclusion from the antidumping duty and countervailing duty orders on aluminum extrusions from China, the Justice Department said in a pair of Feb. 14 reply briefs. Filing its responses in two separate cases, one brought by Columbia Aluminum Products and the other by Worldwide Door Components, Commerce said that it relied on CIT's rulings to find that the plaintiffs' door thresholds qualified for the finished merchandise exclusion while ignoring prior authorities that established that a subassembly could not qualify for the exclusion (Worldwide Door Components v. United States, CIT #19-00012) (Columbia Aluminum Products v. United States, CIT # 19-00013).
The Court of International Trade granted Turkish steel exporter Celik Halat ve Tel Sanayi's motions for judgment in two cases on the antidumping and countervailing duty investigations into prestressed concrete steel wire strand from Turkey. Celik challenges the Commerce Department's refusal to accept questionnaire responses that were filed 21 and 87 minutes late in the AD and CVD cases, respectively. Judge Timothy Stanceu said the rejections amounted to an abuse of discretion and imposed a "draconian penalty" on Celik for a "minor and inadvertent technical error by its counsel that had no appreciable effect on the" investigations.
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
A customs broker license test taker filed suit at the Court of International Trade after two appeals of her final score on the Customs Broker License Examination failed to result in a passing grade. Filing the case without an attorney, Shuzhen Zhong wants the court to review the six questions she appealed to CBP, of which she only received credit for one upon reconsideration. Zhong took particular issue with CBP's getting both her address and gender wrong when returning the results of her appeal (Zhong v. United States, CIT #22-00041).