With Google deemed the next target of aggressive antitrust regimes in Europe and Asia, and a European court decision due next week on Microsoft’s position in the server market, tech interests want Congress to give industry and agencies resources to fight back. Panelists at a Tuesday Association for Competitive Technology discussion on Capitol Hill explained unhindered persecution abroad as resulting from factors ranging from lax U.S. enforcement of trade agreements to “forum shopping” abroad by jealous U.S. competitors.
Nokia opened its defense in an International Trade Commission hearing on alleged Nokia infringement of three Qualcomm patents, Nokia said Monday. The complaint involves Nokia GSM/GPRS/EDGE devices. The hearing runs Sept. 10-24. Qualcomm complained June 9, 2006, invoking six of its patents. The ITC agreed July 10, 2006, to investigate; the case was stayed from Feb. 26, 2007, until June 12, 2007. Since first filing, Qualcomm has pulled three patents from its complaint. “Nokia is confident that its products do not infringe any of the patents remaining in this case and that the patents are invalid,” said Carl Belding, Nokia chief legal officer. “We look forward to proving that the claims regarding the three remaining patents have no more merit than those already withdrawn by Qualcomm.” Qualcomm could not be reached for comment.
The RIAA suffered minor scrapes in its P2P litigation strategy recently, and opposing lawyers are taking advantage of the setbacks in other cases, including one set for oral argument Friday. A judge told the trade group that its standard complaint against a defendant alleged to have shared copyrighted files was too vague to be considered. And in a case not brought by the association, an appeals court cast doubt on the soundness of the RIAA’s theory that copyrighted files can be infringed even without access by other users.
The International Trade Commission voted to investigate whether Nokia’s 3G WCDMA handsets infringe InterDigital patents. The commission has “not yet made any decisions on the merits of the case,” it said in its announcement late Wednesday. A Nokia spokeswoman said the company would defend its rights, products and integrity. Regardless of the outcome, the investigation could hurt Nokia’s effort to persuade the commission to investigate Qualcomm, said Jay Sandvos, a lawyer with Bromberg and Sunstein.
Net neutrality rules could harm competition by blocking service providers from offering premium services and prioritizing “latency-sensitive content” such as streaming video, the Justice Department told the FCC in an ex parte filing on a commission inquiry into broadband industry practices. Justice warned against “prophylactic” controls that could require providers to ignore demand and avoid investing in network upgrades. Critics panned the agency’s filing as a sop to the Bells, and some warned that warrantless surveillance would only grow without neutrality rules.
Net neutrality rules could harm competition by blocking service providers from offering premium services and prioritizing “latency-sensitive content” such as streaming video, the Justice Department told the FCC in an ex parte filing on a commission inquiry into broadband industry practices. Justice warned against “prophylactic” controls that could require providers to ignore demand and avoid investing in network upgrades. Critics panned the agency’s filing as a sop to the Bells, and some warned that warrantless surveillance would only grow without neutrality rules.
C-351-833Canada A-122-840 Indonesia A-560-815 Mexico A-201-830 Moldova A-841-805 Trinidad & Tobago A-274-804 Ukraine A-823-812
The International Trade Administration and the International Trade Commission have each issued notices initiating automatic five-year Sunset Reviews on the above-listed antidumping and countervailing duty orders.
According to Zisser Group and Global Data Mining, LLC, more than 40 importers, including Totes-Isotoner, Target (and its affiliate Associated Merchandising Corp.), Payless Shoesource, Asics, Columbia Sportswear, and Steve Madden have filed complaints with the U.S. Court of International Trade accusing the U.S. of gender and age discrimination in the tariffs its imposes on similar items of apparel, footwear, and gloves. These companies state that more than 2,200 pairs of HTS codes are impacted by discriminatory duties (over 300 for age discrimination and more than 1,900 for gender discrimination). (See ITT's Online Archives or 08/07/07 news, 07080725, for BP summary on Target's and Totes-Isotoner's cases.) (Full article available via email by sending a request to documents@brokerpower.com)
The Department of Homeland Security has issued several recent notices related to the Automated Targeting System (ATS).
The Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements has issued an electronic notice inviting interested parties to a meeting on September 19, 2007 in Washington, DC to discuss "due diligence" in the U.S.-Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA)1 commercial availability process.