The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit decided on February 29, 2012 to remand, in part, for further proceedings the International Trade Commission’s negative final determination in the patent infringement proceedings on certain variable speed wind turbines and components thereof (337-TA-641). In response to a petition by General Electric to ITC that Mitsubishi had infringed on three patents (‘039, ‘221, and ‘985), the ITC’s January 2010 final determination had held that no patents were infringed and/or the domestic industry requirement was not met. The ‘039 patent expired on February 1, 2011, and CAFC dismissed that portion of the appeal as moot, vacating the ITC’s rulings as to that patent. CAFC now affirms the ITC’s ruling that the ‘221 patent is not infringed, but reverses the ITC’s determination of no domestic industry as to the ‘985 patent, and remands for further proceedings.
On March 2, 2012, the Justice Department announced that Enrique Gomez De Molina, of Miami Beach, Florida, has been sentenced to 20 months in prison for illegally trafficking in various endangered and protected wildlife. De Molina was also sentenced to one year of supervised release to follow his prison term, a $6,000 fine and was ordered to forfeit all of the smuggled wildlife in his possession.
On March 2, 2012, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California announced that Tze Chao, a former scientist with DuPont, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit economic espionage. He admitted that he provided trade secrets concerning DuPont's proprietary information to companies controlled by the Chinese government.
Chinese producer/exporters argued that the International Trade Administration made six ministerial errors in the first AD administrative review of small diameter graphite electrodes from China, covering the period August 21, 2008 through January 31, 2010. The ITA agreed in part and sought court leave to correct three of the alleged errors, as well as one other ministerial error it had discovered (the agency had intended to publish amended final results before the Chinese producers filed suit).
Furniture Brands International, Inc. a domestic manufacturer that had filed questionnaire responses for the International Trade Commission in 2005 opposing the issuance of an AD duty order on wooden bedroom furniture from China, lost at the Court of International Trade when it later sought a share of AD duties resulting from the order, pursuant to the Byrd Amendment (aka the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act of 2000, CDSOA). Furniture Brands then sought an injunction from the CIT, pending an appeal, to delay the distribution of AD duties to other domestic companies that had supported the petition, but the CIT has now denied the request to hold up the funds distribution.
Consistent with other recent rulings on similar claims, the Court of International Trade dismissed a challenge by domestic manufacturer Standard Furniture Manufacturing Co., Inc. to its exclusion from the list of affected domestic parties (ADPs) eligible to receive a share of AD duties collected on wooden bedroom furniture from China under the Byrd Amendment (aka the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act of 2000 (CDSOA), and its request for an injunction to delay the distribution of duties to ADPs. The CIT chiefly based its dismissal on comparable challenges addressed by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in SKF USA Inc. v. U.S. (556 F. 3d 1337-2009) (SKF).
The Justice Department announced on March 1, 2012 that Hector Martinez Maldonado, a former Puerto Rico Senator, and Juan Bravo Fernandez, the former president of the largest private security firm in Puerto Rico, were each sentenced to 48 months in prison for their roles in a bribery scheme involving the passage of legislation beneficial to Bravo Fernandez’s business. Bravo Fernandez and Martinez Maldanado were also ordered to pay fines of $175,000 and $17,500, respectively. Additionally, Jorge De Castro Font, also a former Puerto Rico Senator, was also bribed by Fernandez, and was sentenced on May 17, 2011 to 60 months in prison on twenty counts of honest services wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit extortion.
The Justice Department has announced that Shiu-Min Hsu, former chairman of a Taiwan aftermarket auto lights manufacturer, has agreed to plead guilty for his participation in an international conspiracy to fix the prices of aftermarket auto lights.
On February 29, 2012, the Justice Department announced that Australian David Levick and his company, ICM Components Inc., have been indicted for conspiring to export sensitive military and other technology from the U.S. to Iran, including components with applications in missiles, drones, torpedoes and helicopters.
On February 24, 2012, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged three oil services executives with violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) by participating in a bribery scheme to obtain illicit permits for oil rigs in Nigeria in order to retain business under lucrative drilling contracts, thus violating the anti-bribery, internal controls, and false records provisions of the Securities Exchange Act.