New Unfair Import Compalints for Ink Cartridges and Voltage Regulators

On February 17, 2006, Espon America and Seiko Epson Corporation filed a "Section 337" complaint at the U.S. International Trade Commission requesting that an unfair import investigation be instituted involving "Certain Ink Cartridges." The complaint has been designated as Docket No. 337-2471 for indexing in the Commission's database, and the proposed respondents are Glory South Software Mfg. Inc., Buena Park, CA; Butterfly Print Image Corp. Ltd., Hong Kong; Ink Lab (H.K.) Co. Ltd., Hong Kong; Nectron International, Ltd. Sugar Land, TX; Mipo International Ltd., Hong Kong; Mipo America Ltd., Miami, FL; Nine Star Image Co. Ltd., Zhuhai, Guangdong Province, China; Nine Star Technology Co. Ltd. Montclair, CA; Town Sky Inc. South San Francisco, CA; Zhuhai Gree Magneto - Electric Co. Ltd., Zhuhai City, Guangdong Province, China; MMC Consumables Inc. Walnut, CA; Tully Imaging Supplies Ltd., Hong Kong; Inkjetwarehouse.com Inc., Canton, CT; Wellink Trading Co., Ltd, China; Ribbon Tree (Macao) Trading Co., Ltd. Macao, China; Ribbon Tree (USA) Inc. Ferndale, WA; Apex Distributing Inc. Ferndale, WA; Artech GMBH, Dorfmund, Germany; Ink Tec Co. Ltd., Ansan-City, Kyungki-Do, Korea; Ink Tec America Corp. Elkridge, MD; Dataproducts USA LLC, Thousand Oaks, CA; Rhinotek Computer Products, Compton, CA; Master Ink Co., Ltd., Hong Kong; and AcuJet U.S.A., Inc., City of Industry, CA

Also on February 17, 2006, Linear Technology Corporation filed a "Section 337" complaint at the U.S. International Trade Commission requesting that an unfair import investigation be instituted involving "Certain Voltage Regulators, Components Thereof, and Products Containing Same." The proposed respondent is Advanced Analogic Technologies, Inc.., and the complaint has been designated as Docket No. 337-2470 for indexing in the Commission's database.

Such complaints typically include an allegation of intellectual property infringement and a request that the infringing godds be excluded from entry into the United States. The Commission now has 30-35 days from the filing date of the complaints 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, and click here for an audio-visual Internet presentation on "Unfair Import Investigations at the U.S. International Trade Commission."