The International Trade Administration has initiated administrative reviews of the antidumping and countervailing duty orders below, for certain specified companies listed in the initiation notice.
The mixed WTO ruling on the U.S. case against China’s intellectual-property enforcement (WID Jan 27 p1) may raise questions about whether the 15-year-old Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights agreement can survive, said a law professor seen as a likely contender to become the Obama administration’s IP enforcement coordinator. George Mason University’s Victoria Espinel told the American Society of International Law’s annual meeting Wednesday that the WTO decision may also affect the chances for approval of the Anti-Counterfeiting and Trade Agreement. That proposed treaty has been sharply criticized by some companies and activists for its scope, rumored to include Internet distribution, and the secrecy it’s being drafted in (WID Sept 23 p1).
The International Trade Commission has instituted a section 337 patent-based investigation of certain digital cameras pursuant to a complaint.
CBP has issued an "Asian Gypsy Moth Maritime Alert" due to U.S. and Canadian authorities' interception of live Asian Gypsy Moth egg masses on an unprecedented number of commercial vessels in 2008. As a result, CBP is seeking to increase collaboration with shipping lines, agents, and associations in order to try to minimize the occurrence of these events. The alert states that it will be necessary for shipping lines to order all vessel crews to conduct intensive vessel inspection to remove (scrape off) and destroy all egg masses prior to entering U.S. and Canadian ports. (See future issue of ITT for details.) (Alert, posted 03/20/09, available at http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/trade/priority_trade/agriculture/agm_alerts.ctt/agm_alerts.doc)
The Securities and Exchange Commission said two men settled in a spam scam case. Darrel Uselton and his uncle Jack Uselton agreed not to trade in penny stocks. Darrel Uselton will pay $2.8 million in disgorgement and interest and a $1 million fine. They're also settling criminal charges filed by the Texas attorney general. The men raked in $4 million by buying penny stocks, then driving up demand with spam e-mails and an Internet campaign, the SEC said. The SEC said the men received unrestricted shares in exchange for their promotional activities and placed those shares in brokerage accounts. They then encouraged the penny stock companies to issue positive press releases and used technology to instruct other people’s computers to send millions of spam e-mails that appeared to come from someone the recipient knew, the SEC said. “This settlement holds the Useltons accountable for flooding the inboxes of American investors with hundreds of millions of spam e-mails touting these near worthless penny stocks,” said Cheryl Scarboro, associate director of the SEC’s division of enforcement.
CBP has posted a March 12, 2009 version of the following previously issued Importer Security Filing transaction set: ANSI X12 309 Importer Security Filing. (CBP Filing, dated 03/12/09, available at http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/trade/automated/automated_systems/sf_transaction_sets/ansi_x12_309_isf.ctt/ansi_x12_309_isf.pdf)
In Esso Standard Oil Co. (PR) v. U.S., the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the decision by the Court of International Trade not to refund the overpayment of Harbor Maintenance Tax collected on shipments of petroleum products transported from one insular possession to another, which had not been protested in a timely manner under 19 USC 1520(c).
In his weekly address, President Barack Obama announced the appointment of Dr. Margaret Hamburg as Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, as well as the creation of a new Food Safety Working Group to coordinate with agencies and senior officials to advise the President on improving coordination throughout the government, examining and upgrading food safety laws, and enforcing laws that will keep the American people safe. In addition, the President also announced that the Department of Agriculture will close a loophole to prevent diseased cows from entering the food supply and the government will invest in the FDA to substantially increase the number of food inspectors and modernize food safety labs. (White House statement, dated 03/14/09, available at http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Weekly-Address-President-Barack-Obama-Announces-Key-FDA-Appointments-and-Tougher-Food-Safety-Measures/.)
The International Trade Commission has instituted a section 337 patent-based investigation of certain adjustable keyboard support systems and components thereof, pursuant to a complaint.
CBP has posted the testimony of Acting Commission Ahern on the Secure Border Initiative before the House Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Homeland Security. (Testimony, given 03/10/09, available at http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/newsroom/congressional_test/ahern_sbi.xml)