The International Trade Administration (ITA) has issued the final results of its antidumping (AD) duty administrative review of certain oil country tubular goods from Mexico for the period of August 1, 2004 through July 31, 2005.

Nvidia didn’t respond to a request for comment by our deadline after Minneapolis-based Scanner Technologies filed a patent infringement suit against the graphics chip maker in an eastern Tex. federal court. Scanner accused Nvidia of “willful and deliberate infringement” of U.S. Patents 7,079,678 and 7,085,411 covering methods of 3-D inspection that allow ball grid array (BGA) devices to be manufactured more precisely and efficiently. BGA is a type of surface- mount packaging used in integrated circuits. The BGA devices in question are components in graphics cards, motherboards, computers, videogame consoles, cellphones and other handheld devices sold in the U.S., Scanner said. The first patent, granted to Scanner on July 18, discloses a patented process for a step in the manufacture of a BGA device. The other patent, assigned to Scanner on Aug. 1, concerns a way to make a BGA device. Scanner CEO Elwin Beaty was listed as one of the inventors of each patented technology. The company accused Nvidia of selling infringing BGA devices throughout the U.S. The suit also claimed Nvidia induced others to infringe. In addition to requesting preliminary and permanent injunctions, Scanner asked the court to award it “reasonable” royalties on infringing products, treble damages and attorney’s fees. Beaty said his company “has been developing, manufacturing and selling vision equipment for the semiconductor industry since 1990 [and] we believe that it is critical to protect our patented innovations, and accordingly took these actions today.”

Shippers' NewsWire reports that U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Ralph Basham spoke at the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America's (NCBFAA) Government Affairs Conference and emphasized that he understands the importance of international trade to the economic security of the country and pledged to get the manpower to improve the speed of shipments across the border. Basham also acknowledged that developing the multibillion-dollar Secure Border Initiative (SBI) on the Southwest border has been at the expense of import/export facilitation, cargo security, and other traditional activities. (American Shipper, dated 09/19/06, www.americanshipper.com)

The International Trade Administration (ITA) has issued its preliminary results of the following antidumping (AD) duty administrative reviews:

The International Trade Administration (ITA) has issued the final results of its antidumping (AD) duty administrative review of circular welded carbon steel pipes and tubes from Thailand for the period of March 1, 2004 through February 28, 2005.

The International Trade Administration (ITA) has issued its preliminary results of the following antidumping (AD) duty administrative reviews:

HD DVD edged closer to establishing a China-only format with the DVD Forum’s approval of preliminary specs for such a system. The decision to go forward came by the narrowest of votes at the Forum’s Steering Committee in L.A. last week, where the group also approved developing specs for camcorders that would use red lasers to record HD DVD on conventional DVD blanks.

(BP is reissuing its summary of this CBP guide, which appeared in the September 18, 2006 ITT, 06091805, in order to delete all of CBP's references to Truck AMS (Automated Manifest System), as AMS is under ACS, and CBP's E-Manifest: Truck, though also an automated system, is under ACE (the Automated Commercial Environment). Other conforming changes are also made to BP's summary.)

Worldwide PC shipments are on pace to reach 233.7 million this year, up 10.5% 2005. But revenue for PC makers is expected to drop 2.5% to $198.3 billion, according to a preliminary forecast released Fri. by research firm Gartner Dataquest. “Unit growth will continue to be price driven for the next several quarters as PC replacement activity wanes and the battle between Intel and AMD escalates,” said George Shiffler, research dir.-client platforms: “Steeper PC price declines will spur unit growth in mature markets like the United States over the near term, but growth will eventually slow to mid-single digits in these markets as PC replacements fade and saturation becomes more problematic… Vista’s eventual release next year could stimulate some added growth, but we remain skeptical of Vista’s impact.” The report said steeper price declines also will also drive faster growth in emerging markets. That growth should be more sustainable because of low penetration in those markets, expanding economies and a growing number of PC ownership initiatives, Gartner said. The emerging markets are expected to post double-digit growth the next 2 years, it said. Meanwhile, PCs will have a difficult time competing for consumer sales this holiday season. Excess capacity has lowered prices on LCD TVs, and those on many other CE “life-style” products are falling as well, putting them in direct price competition with PCs, Gartner said. “The battle between PCs and LCD TVs in particular is likely to be especially intense over the holiday season given that LCD TVs will almost certainly be backed by aggressive holiday marketing and even lower prices,” Shiffler said. “Even the latest multifunction mobile phones could pose a threat with some buyers considering the prices of these phones and accompanying service contract is increasingly on par with low-end PCs,” he said. Also, the absence of Microsoft’s new Vista OS this fall “will definitely make it harder for PC vendors to maintain consumer interest in PCs without cutting prices,” Shiffler said.

Worldwide PC shipments are on pace to reach 233.7 million this year, up 10.5% 2005. But revenue for PC makers is expected to drop 2.5% to $198.3 billion, and Vista’s impact thought to be nothing spectacular, according to a preliminary forecast released Fri. by research firm Gartner Dataquest. “Unit growth will continue to be price driven for the next several quarters as PC replacement activity wanes and the battle between Intel and AMD escalates,” said George Shiffler, research dir.-client platforms: “Steeper PC price declines will spur unit growth in mature markets like the United States over the near term, but growth will eventually slow to mid-single digits in these markets as PC replacements fade and saturation becomes more problematic… Vista’s eventual release next year could stimulate some added growth, but we remain skeptical of Vista’s impact.” The report said steeper price declines also will also drive faster growth in emerging markets. That growth should be more sustainable because of low penetration in those markets, expanding economies and a growing number of PC ownership initiatives, Gartner said. The emerging markets are expected to post double-digit growth the next 2 years, it said.