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Cyber Power Decision Keeps the Lights On Origin

The Court of International Trade has issued the much anticipated (at least by me) decision on the merits in Cyber Power Systems (USA) Inc. v. United States . It's a bit of a roller coaster ride. The plaintiff clearly hits some bumps along the way, but there is a thrilling conclusion. So, buckle up. The case is about the country of origin of five models of uninterruptible power suppliers ("UPS") and one surge protector. The UPS is essentially a glorified backup battery for computers and other devices. In the event of a power failure, the UPS kicks in to power the device and may assist in a "graceful shutdown." Modern UPS include printed circuit board assemblies that monitor the battery to ensure it is fully charged, monitor the available supply of electricity, switch to the battery when needed, provide status reports and other functions. All of that takes some firmware stored in chips on the boards. The surge protector is a simpler, but still electronic device, t...
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Mitigating 232 Penalties - I'm Back

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I realize I have been gone for a while. The first Trump Administration generated enough compliance work, litigation, and general chaos to keep me too busy and too stressed to do many things. One such thing was writing this blog. I did it mainly because I enjoy the process, and it forced me to stay on top of cases from the Court of International Trade and Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Explaining those decisions in what I intend to be an approachable style helped me understand them. Over the past year, I have at times considered restarting the blog and never found the time or inspiration. Apparently, that has changed.  You may have noticed that the second Trump administration is off to a fast start in the trade space. We have new 10% tariffs on goods from China and 25% tariffs on an expanded list of steel and aluminum products. The 232 exclusion process has been shuttered. Reciprocal tariffs are being floated, as are potential tariffs on cars, pharmaceuticals, and chips....
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On the Apostrophe

UPDATED BELOW: Garner's The Elements of Legal Style, Rule 2.6 (Oxford, 1991)(emphasis in original) states the following: 2.6 Form Singular Possessives by Adding 's to the Singular Form of the Noun The rules holds true regardless of how the word ends: thus, witness's, Jones's, Congress's, and testatrix's . There are three exceptions to the rule. First, the word its is possessive, it's being the contraction for it is. Second, your and hers , which are absolute possessives, take no apostrophe. Third, biblical and classical names that end with a -zes , or -eez sound take only the apostrophe. Thus, Jesus' Moses' Aristophanes' Socrates' If the possessive form seems awkward to you, rephrase: the laws of Moses instead of Moses' laws , the action of Congress or the congressional action instead of Congress's action . Given the treatment of Customs as a singular entity, I take it from Garner (my go-to grammar guy) that the CAFC was c...
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