The following Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) and Court of International Trade (CIT) cases on antidumping and countervailing duty issues were dated or decided in May 2009.

To speed review of proposals and release of broadband stimulus funds, the NTIA and the RUS should rely on states as consultants, the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners said on Friday. “The states can facilitate this review process and perhaps allow both agencies to release funds much sooner … without state assistance, even with the current schedule, it will be almost impossible to efficiently review the anticipated thousands of applications most predict both will receive, much less rank the proposals according to ARRA-specified criteria, disburse the funds, and monitor grant specific implementations,” NARUC said in a letter to the FCC, and the Agriculture and Commerce Departments. The stimulus law favors projects that can begin immediately, but word that funds likely will be released at year-end has had “an unfortunate and undoubtedly unforeseen unfair impact on grant proposals,” the group said. NARUC urged that, as the stimulus law stipulates, the NTIA and the RUS “[1] allow each State to review and provide a preliminary ranking of applications submitted to provide service in that State and [2] give significant weight to those recommendations.” The group invoked states’ “intimate” familiarity with their own communications, economic environment, geography, and demographics, saying states have “every incentive” to avoid waste. Governors should specify entities to review and rank all applications for projects in their jurisdictions, using NTIA and RUS criteria, NARUC said. ----

The International Trade Administration has issued its preliminary results of the following antidumping and countervailing duty administrative reviews:

Note that Daily Update on Capitol Hill Trade Actions does not appear in today's issue of International Trade Today. Publication of this feature will resume as new information becomes available.

Pursuant to the Offset Act¹, also known as the Byrd Amendment, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued notice of its intent to distribute assessed antidumping or countervailing duties for fiscal year 2009.

Verizon Wireless argued against rules that would curb exclusive handset agreements between carriers and equipment makers, in a written statement sent to Rep. Rick Boucher, D- Va., chairman of the telecom subcommittee. AT&T also filed a statement with the committee. Boucher asked for written statements from both after the companies declined to provide witnesses at a May 7 hearing on wireless competition, citing scheduling conflicts. With Congress considering handset exclusivity legislation, Verizon said “U.S. consumers have access to more innovative devices, including the iPhone and many Blackberry and Treo models that are introduced here first … In the last 18 months, many of the most advanced handsets have been launched in the United States, including Apple’s iPhone 3G, LG’s Voyager, Samsung’s Instinct, Google’s G1, and four Blackberry devices.” Verizon Wireless also argued that such agreements are “common throughout the American economy” and “statutorily mandated for patent holders.” Verizon Wireless also counseled the FCC not to intervene in the wireless backhaul market or expand regulation of roaming agreements between carriers. AT&T in its statement called wireless “one of the great success stories in American business.” AT&T also submitted data to buttress arguments that wireless backhaul is highly competitive, countering claims by Sprint Nextel and others. “AT&T has shown that the prices its customers pay in pricing flexibility areas fell by more than 18 percent (for DS1 circuits) and 10 percent (for DS3 circuits) in real inflation-adjusted terms from 2001 through 2004, and fell again by 23.7 percent (DS1) and 20.9 percent (DS3) in real inflation-adjusted terms from 2004 through the third quarter of 2007,” the company said. The Senate Commerce Committee plans a hearing on wireless competition issues on June 17, committee sources said, but plans are in the preliminary stages.

TerreStar Europe is “encouraged” after receiving word from the Court of First Instance in Luxembourg that it intends to deal in an “expedited fashion,” with the lawsuit the TerreStar subsidiary filed against the European Commission, Doug Brandon, TerreStar general counsel, said in an interview.

Verizon Wireless argued against rules that would curb exclusive handset agreements between carriers and equipment makers, in a written statement sent to Rep. Rick Boucher, D- Va., chairman of the telecom subcommittee. AT&T also filed a statement with the committee. Boucher asked for written statements from both after the companies declined to provide witnesses at a May 7 hearing on wireless competition, citing scheduling conflicts. With Congress considering handset exclusivity legislation, Verizon said “U.S. consumers have access to more innovative devices, including the iPhone and many Blackberry and Treo models that are introduced here first. … In the last 18 months, many of the most advanced handsets have been launched in the United States, including Apple’s iPhone 3G, LG’s Voyager, Samsung’s Instinct, Google’s G1, and four Blackberry devices.” Verizon Wireless also argued that such agreements are “common throughout the American economy” and “statutorily mandated for patent holders.” The Senate Commerce Committee plans a hearing on wireless competition issues on June 17, committee sources said, but plans are in the preliminary stages.

The International Trade Administration has issued antidumping duty orders for citric acid and certain citrate salts (citric acid) from Canada and China.

Left Behind Games expects to report its “smallest fiscal year loss” to date for the year ended March 31, based on preliminary internal data, CEO Troy Lyndon said in a filing with the SEC. Q2 ended Sept. 30 represented the first profitable quarter for the maker of Christian-themed interactive games. In Q4, the company further reduced its “operational burn rate another 20 percent to less than $40,000 per month,” he said. Left Behind recently started marketing programs to target more than 300,000 U.S. churches as potential customers and has run 13 direct marketing tests and sent out more than 7,500 church marketing packages including more than 75,000 units of Left Behind games that have been distributed by pastors, he said. Left Behind received payment from 5.5 percent of the churches that received the packages so far, he said. The company expects to eventually generate earnings of more than $10 million per year, he said. Left Behind started development of the first game specifically targeted at church pastors, The Bible Tutor Game, which it expects to release before Christmas, Lyndon said. The company continues to “evaluate opportunities to acquire other inspirational products and brands and continue to review potential merger or acquisition candidates that share our mission to create family-friendly and inspirational entertainment,” he said.