Difficulties and opportunities in responding to the US Section 337 investigation

2020 08/27
On August 22, 2020, Gaopeng Beijing Head Office and local branches held an annual seminar at Puxi No. 1, Huangshan. Ms. Qian Wenjie, partner of the head office, delivered a keynote speech on the difficulties and opportunities of responding to the US Section 337 investigation.
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Mr. Qian introduced the procedural characteristics, difficulties in responding to lawsuits and the development trend of the Section 337 investigation in recent years. She believes that although the intensity and complexity of the response to the Section 337 investigation exceeds that of traditional anti-dumping, countervailing duty and safeguard investigations, Section 337 is not politically discriminatory, judges treat foreign exporters equally, and Chinese enterprises will not be treated differently in the Section 337 investigation because of their political relationship between China and the United States. Therefore, Chinese lawyers should actively assist enterprises in responding to Section 337 investigations. Especially in recent years, when more and more Chinese-funded enterprises have acted as Section 337 plaintiffs (i.e., Chinese enterprises initiating Section 337 investigations through US affiliates), Chinese lawyers have a better understanding of the plaintiff's IP layout and other important facts than American lawyers, so they can more effectively protect the interests of the Chinese defendants.

As a background, Gao Peng Law Firm has represented Chinese enterprises in responding to Section 337 investigations on many occasions and obtained satisfactory response results.

On May 26, 2016, Mr. Gao Peng represented Shougang Group in responding to the U.S. Steel 337 investigation initiated by the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC). After nearly two years of defense, the ITC declared the U.S. case unsuccessful on March 19, 2018, and terminated the investigation.

In the Section 337 investigation initiated by the ITC on high-efficiency sweeteners on November 22, 2016, Mr. Gao Peng responded to the lawsuit on behalf of Beijing Vitol Chemical Co., Ltd., and used the validity of the patent involved as a breakthrough to force the US plaintiff to apply for withdrawal of the lawsuit in just 3 months, and there was no measure to close the case.

In the 337 investigation of luxury plastic flooring launched by the ITC on March 25, 2019, Gaopeng Law Firm responded to the lawsuit on behalf of six leading enterprises, including Zhejiang Jingtong Plastic Co., Ltd. and Zhejiang Walrus New Materials Co., Ltd., and has made phased progress.



(This article is translated by software translator for reference only.)