08.28.18
Patents on Steroids: ITC is Rushing Embargoes Before the Facts Are Even Known
Hytera (company from Shenzhen, China) is barred — using patents — by a US company with six times as many employees (and a lot more US patents)
Summary: When patents are put ahead of justice itself there’s greater risk that wrongly-granted patents and inappropriate allegations of patent infringement would result not only in lawsuits but also fast injunctions/embargo orders
WE have long argued that ITC helps US-based firms embargo foreign competition. It does this with prejudice and it’s almost always deciding against non-US companies. It’s doing it again.
“It does this with prejudice and it’s almost always deciding against non-US companies.”This time the ITC decided (“Notice of Initial Determination”) before the facts were even known; it’s like the EPO‘s “Early Certainty” (except for actual sanctions/embargo) and in the case of the USPTO the quality of patents is questionable and merits a review at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), perhaps with an appeal to the Federal Circuit. To quote one of three reports published about that yesterday [1, 2, 3]:
The US International Trade Commission has released its Notice of Initial Determination, regarding Motorola’s patent infringement case with Hytera. The intial determination was first unveiled in July, in favour of Motorola. ITC will now conduct a mandatory review of the initial determination and come out with a final one by 6 November.
Is this really justice or just a “mob lynch” like the nationalist trade wars of the Trump administration? Only yesterday we saw a front group of patent zealots (AEI) publishing “Chinese intellectual property theft” and IAM, the patent trolls’ think tank, saying that “Huawei [of China] transferred hundreds of patents to Qualcomm in months after NDRC settlement” (Qualcomm‘s patent aggression is widely documented).
“This is the sort of vision laid out by UPC proponents in Europe.”This isn’t about whether China or Hytera is infringing; it’s about whether ITC offers proper due process or just shoots first, asking questions later. We have already seen the ITC even ignoring PTAB rulings and causing financial damage/ruin. This is the sort of vision laid out by UPC proponents in Europe. █
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