U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has presented its final version of is new Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) security standards for importers to the Departmental Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations of Customs and Border Protection and Related Functions (COAC). During the February 15, 2005 COAC meeting, CBP officials noted that they will also be issuing frequently asked questions (FAQs) and responses regarding the revised C-TPAT security standards. (See ITT's Online Archives or 01/13/05 news, 05011305, for BP summary of Draft 3 of CBP's new C-TPAT security standards for importers.)
According to a U.S. Association of Importers of Textiles and Apparel (USA-ITA) Textile Development Memo, on February 7, 2005, the government filed a motion with the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) seeking a 'stay' of the preliminary injunction (that prevents CITA from taking further action on threat-based China safeguard petitions), pending consideration of is appeal, which they also asked for from the CIT, and the CIT denied. (USA-ITA TDM, dated 02/10/05, www.usaita.com.)
Genesis Microchip incurred about $3.5 million in legal expenses 4th quarter, including for lawsuits involving Silicon Image and several Taiwanese display controller suppliers. The U.S. Appeals Court, Federal Circuit, dismissed in Jan. Genesis’ appeal of a lower court ruling that found binding a proposed settlement of a patent infringement suit filed against it by Silicon Image. The appeals court dismissed the challenge for lack of jurisdiction, saying the case hadn’t been fully resolved in district court. Meanwhile, MStar filed an appeal with the U.S. Appeals Court, Federal Circuit, seeking to overturn an International Trade Commission (ITC) order last Aug. that barred the company from marketing its display controllers in the U.S. The ITC found that controllers sold by MStar, along with Trumpion International and Media Reality Technologies (MRT), had infringed patents held by Genesis. Trumpion and MRT haven’t filed appeals. In a separate case, a June hearing on a Genesis motion for summary judgement is scheduled in U.S. Dist. Court, San Jose, in a patent infringement suit brought against MRT in March 2002. MRT has countered by alleging trade secret misappropriation and interference with economic advantage.
The Journal of Commerce Online (JoC Online) reports that Department of Homeland Security (DHS) secretary-designate Michael Chertoff testified before a Senate committee on February 2, 2005 and opined that the port security grant program should be re-focused to address threats of WMDs being transported in sea containers. Chertoff also noted, among other things, that he would review DHS' overall structure and clarify the roles of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). (JoC Online Pub 02/03/05, www.joc.com)
The International Trade Administration (ITA) and the International Trade Commission (ITC) have issued various notices, each initiating automatic five-year sunset reviews on the above-listed antidumping (AD) duty orders and countervailing (CV) duty order.
Compliance or lack thereof with 1998 Justice Dept. (DoJ) guidelines for the 3C Group’s patent pooling plan likely will be a key point of scrutiny in the ongoing class-action antitrust suit by 2 Chinese DVD manufacturers against 3C pool members LG, Philips, Pioneer and Sony, lawyers familiar with the case told Consumer Electronics Daily.
A long-simmering spat over DVD royalties seems to have boiled over into U.S. courts, with 2 Chinese makers of players reportedly suing the 3C patent pool on antitrust grounds for alleged unfair competition.
The House Select Committee on Homeland Security has issued a press release announcing that on January 4, 2005, the House of Representatives approved the creation of a permanent standing Committee on Homeland Security. This move follows the 9/11 Commission's recommendation that both the House and Senate should create a single, principal point of oversight and review for homeland security. (House press release, dated 01/04/05, available at http://hsc.house.gov/release.cfm?id=296,)
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued its seventh version (dated January 12, 2005) of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) and responses regarding its final rule requiring the advance electronic presentation of information for inbound air cargo.
Foreign telecom companies strongly disputed the allegations CompTel/Ascent, ECTA and others filed in comments (CD Dec 27 p4) with the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) last month. They said the comments of the 2 groups representing competitive industry in the U.S. and Europe were identical and in many ways repeated their year- earlier comments. Some companies also said that many statements in the comments were incorrect. The comments came as part of USTR’s annual review of the operation and effectiveness of all U.S. trade agreements on telecom products and services.