The International Trade Commission has announced the institution of investigations and the commencement of preliminary phase antidumping and countervailing duty injury investigations regarding certain magnesia carbon bricks (MCBs) from China and Mexico.
P2P software is a grave threat to U.S. security, children and even criminal trials, lawmakers and most witnesses said at a House Oversight Committee hearing Wednesday on inadvertent file-sharing. But federal regulators have been slacking off in holding the P2P industry accountable for software features that endanger sensitive information on users’ computers, they said. Chairman Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., said he would introduce a bill to prohibit the installation of P2P software on government and government-contractor computers, one of which was responsible for leaking blueprints for President Barack Obama’s Marine One helicopter. No one mentioned an existing Commerce Committee bill (HR-1319) by Rep. Mary Bono Mack, R-Calif., that would require finer-grained user controls in P2P software (WID May 6 p2).
"Daily Update on Capitol Hill Trade Actions" is a regular feature of International Trade Today. The following are brief summaries of recent Capitol Hill actions.
The U.S. Appeals Court for the Federal Circuit on Wednesday rejected Vizio’s request to stay an International Trade Commission order barring the importation of TVs that violate a Funai patent. In a four-page decision, the appeals court said Vizio didn’t meet “its burden” to win a stay of the order.
CBP has posted COAC's Importer Security Filing Subcommittee statement of work and directory. The ISF subcommittee was established at the May 6, 2009 COAC meeting and is to advise COAC of any advice or recommendations related to ISF. Specifically, the subcommittee is expected to generate advice and recommendations pertaining to the implementation of the ISF requirements. (Documents were posted on 07/28/09)
CBP has issued a CSMS message stating that on July 17, 2009, CBP published CBP Dec. 09&8722;26 titled "Guidelines for the Assessment and Cancellation of Claims for Liquidated Damages for Failure to Comply with the Vessel Stow Plan, Container Status Message, and Importer Security Filing Requirements." (See ITT's Online Archives or 07/17/09 and 07/20/09 news, 09071705 and 09072010, for BP summaries of the 10+2 penalty and mitigation guidelines.) (CSMS 09-000275, dated 07/27/09, available at http://apps.cbp.gov/csms/viewmssg.asp?Recid=17665&page=&srch_argv=09-000275&srchtype=all&btype=&sortby=&sby)
The International Trade Administration has initiated administrative reviews of the antidumping duty orders below, for certain specified companies listed in the initiation notice.
The U.S. International Trade Commission rejected a request to stay its order barring Vizio, Amtran and TPV Technology from importing TVs that infringe a Funai patent. The companies filed a request June 2 asking the ITC to stay its April 10 decision, pending an appeal filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The ITC in April ruled that Vizio’s TVs, which are assembled by Amtran and TPV, violated a Funai patent on channel mapping technology. The companies asked that Vizio be allowed to continue selling TVs pending the appeal. The appeals court last month granted Vizio’s emergency motion while it considers arguments on the ITC decision. It wasn’t clear Tuesday what impact the ITC ruling might have on the appeals court case. Vizio and TPV officials weren’t available for comment. Karl Kramer, attorney for Funai, declined to comment. Funai filed a complaint with the ITC in October 2007, just months after acquiring DTV-related patents from Thomson. The channel mapping patent, issued in 2000, describes a technology allowing a DTV tuner to speed switching of channels by referring to data stored in a table.
The International Trade Commission has instituted a section 337 patent-based investigation of certain lighting control devices including dimmer switches and parts thereof pursuant to a complaint.
CBP has posted an updated version of its TRQ/TPL "threshold to fill" list, a quick reference to monitor TRQs and TPLs that are approaching the restraint limit or have filled the in-quota (low) rate. The list is divided into two sections - those that are at least 85% filled and those that are closed. (List, updated 07/17/09, available at http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/trade/trade_programs/textiles_and_quotas/commodity/trq_thresh_fill.ctt/trq_thresh_fill.pdf)