Effective Use of ITC Section 337 to Resolve Patent Disputes

Insights: Publications Effective Use of ITC Section 337 to Resolve Patent Disputes – Mini-Roundtable

Corporate Disputes e-magazine

April 1, 2015

Written by Aarti Shah

One of the most interesting cases over the past year was the Digital Models case, where the ITC found that it had authority to find patent infringement and issue orders against parties based on electronic importation and transmission of software. The case is on appeal now, but if it is upheld this could be a tremendous area for ITC cases, as these days so much software is digitally imported – that is, sent from somewhere overseas to a location inside the US. The ITC is already an amazing venue for anti-counterfeiting, but if the decision is upheld, it could be important for music and film anti-piracy efforts. We’ve also seen a rise in cases brought under the “other unfair acts” part of the statue – cases that are not strictly patent or trademark infringement but rather are, for example, trade secret cases.