MoFo@ITC

Welcome to MoFo@ITC

MoFo@ITC is a guide to Section 337 investigations at the International Trade Commission (ITC). Our growing collection of Articles offer in-depth analysis expanding on key ITC legal and procedural issues. Our Timeline and Overview walk you through the major events in ITC investigations and what to expect in each phase. And our Statistics page provides insights into decisional trends.

Articles

Clarifying the “Mere Importer” and Economic Domestic Industry Analysis
Examining the ITC’s differing approaches to evaluating a Complainant’s domestic industry expenses.
Using an IPR in the ITC: It’s All About Timing
Discussing the likelihood the ITC will suspend or stay an investigation in view of an invalidity determination in a concurrent IPR.
ITC Exclusion of Downstream Products: What Remains of EPROMs?
An update regarding the state of the EPROMs analysis.
Post-TianRui: A Survey of Trade Secret Litigation and Extraterritoriality in the ITC
This paper explores recent trends in trade secret misappropriation in the ITC and recommends best practices.
Public Interest at the ITC
A quick primer on the ITC’s public interest factors, including situations in which ITC remedies have been denied or tailored based on public interest.

View all articles.

ITC Timeline

ITC Overview

The ITC is a federal administrative agency that conducts investigations of “unfair practices in import trade” under 19 U.S.C. § 1337, commonly called Section 337.

Section 337 prohibits the importation of products into the U.S. that infringe valid U.S. patents, copyrights, and trademarks. Section 337 also prohibits “unfair methods of competition and unfair acts” in importation, including misappropriation of trade secrets. Under Section 337, complainants may seek powerful injunctive relief in the form of an exclusion order stopping infringing products at the border. An Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) presides over an investigation of a Section 337 complaint through proceedings that resemble litigation in U.S. district courts, but with some critical differences.

The ITC is a forum that has skyrocketed in popularity over the last two decades. Since 2000, complaints at the ITC have increased by over 290%. Though the ITC is only one of about 90 venues in the U.S. in which a patent infringement lawsuit can be brought, the ITC heard over 32% of all U.S. patent trials in 2021.

View the full ITC overview.

Statistics

Our statistics page offers a decade’s worth of data tracking the annual numbers and types of ITC Section 337 investigations, merits determinations, the outcomes of 100-day early resolution proceedings, and more.