Richmond IP Holdings Requests Unfair Import Investigation of Weather Stations from Asia

On March 15, 2005, Richmond IP Holdings, LLC of Richmond, Virginia filed a "Section 337" unfair import complaint at the U.S. International Trade Commission.

The complaint requests that an unfair import investigation be instituted involving "Certain Weather Stations and Components Thereof." The proposed respondents are: Hideki Electronics, Inc., of Oregon; K&P International Holdings Limited, Hong Kong; Hideki Electronics, Ltd., Hong Kong; Springfield Precision Instruments, Inc., of New Jersey; Homedics-USA, Inc. Michigan and Taylor Precision Products LLC, of Illinois.

The complaint has been designated as confidential and assigned Docket No. 337-2420 for indexing in the Commission's database. The Commission now has 30-35 days from the filing date of the complaint in which to decide whether to institute the investigation. Upon institution, the proposed respondent will be served with the Complaint via postal mail and an Administrative Law Judge will schedule discovery, conduct a trial, and issue a written "Initial Determination," usually within about 10 months. Due to the expedited nature of these proceedings, and availability of general exclusion orders affecting non-parties, it is important to notify any potential importers of similar products as soon as possible.

Click here for more information on the importance of monitoring these ITC investigations, such as by subscribing to the free "I/P Updates" news service at http://ip-updates.blogspot.com/. And click here for a free audio-visual Internet presentation on "Unfair Import Investigations at the U.S. International Trade Commission."

For the latest details on a particular Section 337 investigation, or to arrange a free, in-person presentation on these (and/or other) intellectual property topics, contact Bill Heinze (Bill.Heinze@tkhr.com), at Thomas, Kayden, Horstemeyer & Risley in Atlanta, Georgia.