Posts Tagged: "International Trade Commission"

Comcast’s Lobbying Won’t Dilute the ITC’s Enforcement Authority

Late last month, TiVo won its second intellectual property battle with Comcast at the International Trade Commission (ITC) and is poised to win a third ruling this summer. The agency issued an exclusion order under Section 337 of the Tariff Act to prevent Comcast from importing digital video receivers that violate TiVo’s Rovi cable box patents. Now, unable to win on the argument that it did not infringe on TiVo’s patents, Comcast is trying again, this time attacking the ITC as an institution.

Federal Circuit’s Ruling Against Comcast Highlights Significance of ITC for Patent Owners

As IPWatchdog reported last week, on March 2, in what can only be characterized as the most significant crackdown against patent evasion in a generation, TiVo Corporation won a groundbreaking U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruling against Comcast. The Court’s opinion provides a noteworthy precedent that will spell trouble for the future of Comcast’s business practices, particularly for the company’s upcoming cases with the ITC. More significantly, however, it will protect the authority of the ITC to police similarly profiled instances of patent trolling in the future, which will make the opinion go down in history as one of the most substantial victories for the strength and sanctity of patent evasion in the 21st century

Federal Circuit Upholds ITC Limited Exclusion Order Against Comcast

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has upheld an International Trade Commission (ITC) ruling granting a limited exclusion order that bars importation of X1 set-top boxes by Comcast, including importation by ARRIS and Technicolor on behalf of Comcast. Although the patents at issue have both expired, the Court refused Comcast’s motion to dismiss, finding that there were “sufficient collateral consequences to negate mootness.”

The Impact of Overturning eBay v. MercExchange

At a time when most policymakers rightly argue that China and other countries need to do more to clamp down on intellectual property infringement, overturning the four-factor eBay test would impose new hurdles and increase the PAE problem that Congress and the Supreme Court have fought to address over that last two decades. The risk that an implementer engages in “efficient infringement” has made the ITC an increasingly attractive forum, for at least some patent owners and notably not PAEs. ITC exclusion orders and cease and desist orders are the last vestige of the exclusivity promised to the right patent owners at the time they are granted a patent. Compared to proposed sections of the STRONGER Patents Act, the ITC strikes a balance between offering at least some patent owners the ability to prevent infringers from engaging in the never-ending game of “efficient infringement” while frustrating PAEs attempts to abuse the exclusionary remedies offered.  Congressional action should be reserved for a time when there is clear evidence that the eBay decision is harming U.S. businesses and those U.S. businesses are unable to obtain the relief they need at the ITC. At this time, there is no such evidence.

Ranking the Top ITC Firms and Attorneys

Last month, we released our first ITC Intelligence Report. For the first time, we ranked ITC law firms and attorneys based on their performance and activity. Our research team analyzed the outcome of 308 ITC Section 337 Investigations, filed from January 1, 2014, through December 1, 2019. For all the terminated cases, we identified the outcome (e.g., violation, no violation, settlement, etc.). Then, depending on the outcome and win/loss of parties (i.e., complainants and respondents), we allocated points to each side, including the law firms and attorneys representing them.