The State Department Directorate of Defense Trade Controls said its Electronic Form Submission (EFS) application has been upgraded to version 1.1.EFSe v1.1 and released a document that provides information supporting the release of EFS v1.1 and the supporting web content included in DTAS Online v1.1. DDTC said the release is to improve functional aspects of EFS and to correct navigational and screen issues. Highlights of functional improvements include: a check to prevent the submission of blank forms; feedback to the user when a case has been successfully submitted to the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC); ability to enter certain special characters in the subject field of a submission; system timeout after a period of inactivity; improved consistency in the file upload process; and improved consistency in field validation. Additional information is available (here) and from the DTRADE Help Desk at 202-663-2838 or dtradehelpdesk@state.gov.
Broker Power is providing readers with some of the top stories for July 2-6 in case they were missed last week.
Sigma Designs and dissident shareholder Potomac Capital Management are trading barbs, with the chip developer claiming it’s “poised to leverage leading technologies,” and the hedge fund countering that “poor financial performance” argues otherwise, the companies said in separate SEC filings. The filings come as Sigma prepares for its annual meeting in August, when competing visions of the company will be brought before shareholders.
CBP ACEopedia for July 2012 provides an update to progress in ACE to date. The update on progress was the biggest changes between the new ACEopedia and previous versions.
The Office of U.S. Trade Representative closed the Generalized System of Preferences country practice review on worker rights in Sri Lanka without any change to Sri Lanka’s GSP trade benefits, said USTR Ron Kirk. The AFL-CIO had filed a petition in 2008 alleging shortcomings in Sri Lanka’s recognition of worker rights. Kirk noted “the Sri Lankan government’s noteworthy efforts over the past few years to address the worker rights issues outlined in the GSP petition.” Among the steps, USTR said, are making progress in initiating, investigating and resolving unfair labor practices cases; establishing trade union facilitation centers in each of the three largest Economic Processing Zones; improving procedures for conducting union certifications; and enacting legislation to increase the fines for labor practices violations.
The Court of International Trade ruled that a challenge to the International Trade Administration’s exclusion (because of a zero rate) of a Chinese company from the antidumping duty order on multilayered wood flooring from China (A-570-970) was untimely filed, but said it would not dismiss the case because of questions, in light of recent Supreme Court and appellate court rulings, regarding (i) whether the relevant time requirements preclude jurisdiction and (ii) the possibility of equitable tolling. CIT ordered further briefing to address these issues.
Third-party developer titles will account for half of LeapFrog’s App Center content by year-end as the toy company expands to 325 download titles for its LeapPad2 and LeapsterGS tablet and handheld learning devices, Producer Ardry Engleheart told us Thursday during a news briefing in New York.
AU Optronics LCD panels didn’t infringe Thomson Licensing patents, the International Trade Commission ruled. The commission upheld an administrative law judge’s finding of no violation by AU Optronics, but reversed the administrative law judge’s finding that Chimei Innolux infringed a patent held by Thomson, and returned the case to administrative law judge to determine whether certain claims are invalid in view of the ViewFrame II+2 prior art, said the International Trade Commission.
AU Optronics LCD panels didn’t infringe Thomson Licensing patents, the International Trade Commission ruled. The commission upheld an administrative law judge’s finding of no violation by AU Optronics, but reversed the administrative law judge’s finding that Chimei Innolux infringed a patent held by Thomson, and returned the case to administrative law judge to reconsider the decision to exclude the ViewFrame II+2 prior art from consideration, said the International Trade Commission.
Universal’s proposed acquisition of EMI creates “an unfair method of competition” that constitutes “an unreasonable restraint on trade,” because it will “substantially lessen competition” and “likely enhance market power,” two consumer groups said Thursday. In a joint “detailed” report filed with the FTC, the Consumer Federation of America and Public Knowledge said the proposed combination creates a highly concentrated market by eliminating one of the only four major record labels. The deal “results in an increase in concentration across every major product market,” including current and catalogue CDs, digital albums and digital singles, that’s “five times the level that the DOJ/FTC identify as cases of concern,” they said. “In simple terms, the post-merger firm would have a strong incentive and increased ability to exercise market power to undermine, delay, and distort new digital distribution business models, in a market that has been a tight oligopoly for over a decade,” said Mark Cooper, CFA’s director of research and co-author of the report. “The FTC must take steps to prevent the severe harm to competition and consumers.” The report rejects Universal’s claims that piracy will prevent the abuse of market power, citing “consumer purchasing behavior, estimates of elasticities of demand by academics, and marketing research conducted by the music industry.” The report says the industry has “chronically and grossly overestimated the role of copyright infringement in the development of digital distribution.” A Universal representative had no comment right away, and we couldn’t reach a representative of EMI.