The U.S. lumber industry affected by unfairly priced imports of wood products from Canada and China deserves full attention from the executive branch, Senate Finance Ranking Member Ron Wyden said in a statement (here). The Committee Overseeing Action for Lumber International Trade Investigations or Negotiations on Nov. 25 filed a petition with Commerce and the International Trade Commission requesting antidumping and countervailing duties on softwood from Canada (see 1611250036). A moratorium on new AD/CVD petitions from the nation ended in October, one year after the 2006 Softwood Lumber Agreement’s expiration (see 1610120020). The Coalition for Fair Trade in Hardwood Plywood on Nov. 17 filed a petition with Commerce and the ITC requesting new AD and CV duties on hardwood plywood from China (see 1611180039). “Sawmill workers and communities devastated by unfairly traded softwood lumber demand full enforcement of U.S. trade laws and nothing less,” Wyden said in a statement. “American workers and forestry communities need relief from unfair trade and they need it now, on everything from today’s softwood lumber case to the recent case filed against Chinese producers of hardwood plywood.” The U.S. and Canada continue to discuss the effect of Canadian government softwood policies on the U.S. market, including the possibility of a new Softwood Lumber Agreement.
The Food and Drug Administration is adopting the flexible approach urged by industry for filing in ACE of some data elements that may not be known at time of entry, in its final rule setting ACE filing requirements (here). Data elements for active pharmaceutical ingredients will remain optional, and the agency will continue to allow for a “UNK” intended use code where the intended use code is unknown at time of entry, the final rule said. However, FDA declined to allow more time for implementation of new ACE requirements, setting an effective date of Dec. 29 despite calls to allow several months for implementation.
Provisions of the tariff schedule referencing a “high proportion” of one component mean there is a “high ratio of that component compared to the other components,” the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said on Nov. 18 (here) as it affirmed a lower court ruling finding Tyco’s glass bulbs filled with liquid are articles of glass for tariff classification purposes. For Tyco’s glass bulbs, which have only two component parts and are mostly glass by weight, a high proportion is more than 50 percent, meaning the bulbs are glass articles for tariff classification purposes.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Nov. 14-20:
NEW YORK -- CBP issued a request for proposals seeking a private company to collect fines on its behalf, CBP Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske said at the Court of International Trade Judicial Conference on Nov. 21. Once selected, the collection agency will cost nothing to the taxpayer, instead taking a percentage of whatever fines it collects, he said. “Perhaps they’ll do a better job,” he said, noting congressional criticism of CBP’s collection efforts. “I’m not sure,” he said. In any case, CBP will learn about new collection methods and how they work, Kerlikowske said. A CBP official said in July that CBP is going through a procurement process with “multiple vendors” to find a company to collect unpaid antidumping and countervailing duties (see 1607280025).
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Nov. 14-20 in case they were missed.
Content owners and tech sector stakeholders again stuck to their stated positions on the need for new permanent exemptions to Digital Millennium Copyright Act Section 1201's provisions barring the circumvention of technological protection measures in reply comments due late Wednesday. Stakeholders have viewed the consistency of all participants' positions on Section 1201 as making it likely that the Copyright Office will make recommendations for a revamp of the process for granting exemptions to the ban (see 1610270063 and 1611010059). Content owners used the reply comments to caution the CO against making legislative recommendations in their Section 1201 study report and instead focus on using its existing authority to fix issues with its triennial process for reviewing nonpermanent TPM exemptions. The tech sector again urged the CO to proceed with its proposed new permanent exemptions in addition to fixes to the triennial review process.
Content owners and tech sector stakeholders again stuck to their stated positions on the need for new permanent exemptions to Digital Millennium Copyright Act Section 1201's provisions barring the circumvention of technological protection measures in reply comments due late Wednesday. Stakeholders have viewed the consistency of all participants' positions on Section 1201 as making it likely that the Copyright Office will make recommendations for a revamp of the process for granting exemptions to the ban (see 1610270063 and 1611010059). Content owners used the reply comments to caution the CO against making legislative recommendations in their Section 1201 study report and instead focus on using its existing authority to fix issues with its triennial process for reviewing nonpermanent TPM exemptions. The tech sector again urged the CO to proceed with its proposed new permanent exemptions in addition to fixes to the triennial review process.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Nov. 7-13:
Just providing Internet access doesn't infringe copyright, and a U.S. District judge in Alexandria, Virginia, "effectively guided the jury" to do exactly what the Supreme Court has cautioned against in other copyright infringement cases -- to find contributory infringement based solely on not taking active steps to avert infringement by a third party, CTA and Computer & Communications Industry Association said in a joint amicus curiae brief (in Pacer) filed Monday with the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The brief was filed in Cox Communications' appeal of the lower court's ruling in favor of BMG Rights Management in its torrent piracy lawsuit against the cable ISP (see 1608190030). CTA/CCIA said Judge Liam O'Grady "compound[ed] this error" when he instructed the jury that it could find willful blindness from a general awareness of possible infringement instead of following Supreme Court precedent that requires deliberate actions. The lower court also held that the Digital Millennium Copyright Act wasn't a defense yet let the jury base its verdict on facts related to whether Cox had satisfied its safe harbor immunity from damages under the DMCA, CTA/CCIA said. "The jury was essentially invited to draw inferences of liability" from Cox not shutting off alleged copyright infringers rather than from whether the cable operator's workers took any volitional acts to encourage copyright infringement, the trade groups said. They called the ruling "contrary to sound public policy," arguing it undermined congressional intent in Section 512 of the DMCA, which covers liability limitations. CTA/CCIA called for the judgment against Cox to be reversed and for the case to remanded for entry of judgment in favor of the cable ISP or a new trial. Counsel for BMG didn't comment.