Customs Law

Usually, a patent dispute involving imported merchandise gets resolved by the International Trade Commission in what is known as a Section 337 ( 19 USC 1337 ) case. The relief in a successful 337 case is most often an "exclusion order," prohibiting the importation of the infringing merchandise. An exclusion order can be general or limited. A general exclusion order prohibits all specified merchandise, even merchandise made or imported by entities that were not party to the action. A limited exclusion order prohibits the importation of specified merchandise by entities named in the order. An ITC decision in a 337 case may be immediately appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which is also the court that decides appeals from the Court of International Trade. Often, the exclusion order is all the relief the patent owner needs. It protects the market from the infringing foreign product and allows the patent holder to enjoy the intended benefit of exclusi...

Who doesn't like a good value case now and again? Value cases are kind of like Star Wars movies; they pop up once every few years and move the story along a little bit at a time. Sometimes, we get a new perspective from an upstart judge and sometimes a veteran steps back in to right the ship until the inevitable reboot. It seems like it is have been a while since the Court of International Trade weighed in on what constitutes a dutiable addition to value. So, it is a good time for us to catch up on Trimil, S.A. v. United States and see what is truly cannon and what it part of the expanded universe of valuation legends (AKA CBP rulings). And, always remember that the Star Wars saga begins with a trade war . This needs to be quick, as I am going to the movies soon (as you might have guessed). Trimil (who, with no judgment, I picture as an individual looking like Watto ) is an importer of Armani branded clothing. At the time of entry (including the subsequent reconciliation), Tri...

Prysm, Inc. v. United States , answers the question, "Are those cool looking video walls that show up in office building lobbies, hotel lobbies, and fancy conference centers monitors of the sort that are used with computers?" The answer, at least as far as the Court of International Trade is concerned, is no. Here is an image, from the Prysm website, of what the case is about. Technically, that device is a Display Wall System made up of laser phosphor display ("LPD") tiles and a proprietary image processor. The image processor accepts an incoming signal, converts it to Prysm's proprietary format, and sends it on to the LPD. The imported merchandise subject to this case is just the LPD tile, not the entire system. Prysm contends that the LPD is properly classified as a part of a monitor in Heading 8529. In the alternative, Prysm contends that the LPD is classifiable in Heading 8528 as a monitor of a kind solely or principally used in an automatic data pr...