ITC to Consider General Exclusion Order on Imported Tourniquets
Comments to the International Trade Commission are due May 9 in a potential Section 337 case concerning imported tourniquets. Complainants Composite Resources Inc. (CRI), a South Carolina-based manufacturer, and North American Rescue (NAR), a medical supply distributor, have asked the ITC to consider a general exclusion order against all imported blood flow restriction devices with rotatable windlasses.
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The request for comments follows an April 21 complaint by CRI and NAR, which alleged that 30 named respondents have imported tourniquets that infringe on three patents as well as their trademarks and trade dress, including knock-offs of CRI's Combat Application Tourniquet, a product sold to the U.S. Army.
Infringement of the patents, trademarks and trade dress is widespread, the complainants said, making identification of other infringers "difficult, if not impossible," the complaint said. Sales through internet-based reselling sites allow entities to hide their identities and locations and make it possible to change sales names or to quickly move between resellers. A general exclusion order is warranted to prevent circumvention because of "the widespread pattern of violation and fundamental challenges in identifying sources of infringing goods," the complainants said. In addition to the general exclusion order, CRI and NAR have asked the commission for cease and desist orders against the named respondents.
The named respondents are:
- Anping Longji Medical Equipment Factory
- Chaozhou Jiduo Trading
- Dongguan Hongsui Electronic Commerce
- Dongguanwin Si Hai Precision Mold
- Eiffel Medical Supplies
- Empire State Distributors (d/b/a Gallica)
- EMRN Medical Equipment
- Express Companies
- Fuzhou Meirun Medical Equipment Technology
- GD Tianwu New Material Tech
- Henan Eyocean E-Commerce (d/b/a Eyocean)
- Hengshui Runde Medical Instruments
- Huang Xia (d/b/a Furlove)
- Jingcai Jiang (d/b/a Furlove)
- Putian Dima Trading (d/b/a Dimai; d/b/a Zeculay)
- Rhino (d/b/a RhinoRescue)
- Shanghai Sixu International Freight Agent
- Shen Yi (d/b/a SZCTKlink)
- Shenzhen Anben E-Commerce (d/b/a Awelife; d/b/a Ansudylg)
- Shenzhen Janxle E E Commerce
- Shenzhen Smart Medical
- Shenzhen TMI Medical Supplies (d/b/a Tanmi Medical)
- Shenzhen Yujie Commercial and Trading(d/b/a Cozii Tourniquet)
- Sun Minghui (d/b/a SunQQQ; d/b/a Familyhouse)
- SZY Holdings
- Wuxi Emsrun Technology
- Wuxi Golden Hour Medical Technology (d/b/a YeYe Tactical)
- Wuxi Puneda Technology
- Xia Guo Long (d/b/a Jusaid)
- Yinping Yin (d/b/a Dealpeak).