The International Trade Administration (ITA) has initiated antidumping (AD) duty investigations of bottle-grade polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resin from India, Indonesia, Taiwan and Thailand, and countervailing (CV) duty investigations of subject merchandise from India and Thailand.

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has issued a notice announcing the availability of, and requesting public comment by May 7, 2004 on, its preliminary regulatory impact analysis (PRIA) of three interim final rules and one notice issued by FSIS on January 12, 2004 regarding additional protection measures in response to the detection of a case of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE, also known as mad cow disease) in the U.S.

The International Trade Administration (ITA) frequently issues notices on antidumping (AD) and countervailing (CV) duty orders which Broker Power considers to be "minor" in importance as they concern actions that occur after an order is issued and neither announce nor cause any changes to an order's duty rates, scope, affected firms, or effective period.

Genesis Microchip gained a split decision, with International Trade Commission (ITC) initially finding that Taiwanese supplier MStar infringed one of 2 flat-panel display- related patents, the company said. The ITC, which still must issue a final ruling, found that MStar infringed a patent covering a method for scaling up an image in horizontal and vertical directions. But it rejected claims that MStar and fellow Taiwanese supplier Media Reality Technologies (MRT) violated another patent that pertained to the conversion of an analog signal into a form capable of driving a digital display, Genesis said. The ITC could potentially issue an order barring both the import of MStar display controllers into the U.S. and products containing them, Genesis said. Interim CEO Eric Erdman said: “We believe that our technology embodied in the winning patent is fundamental to providing low-cost scaling solutions for flat-panel monitors and entry-level flat-panel TVs.” The ITC is expected to issue a separate preliminary ruling in May on a complaint filed against MRT and Trumpion Microelectronics involving the scaling patent.

The ITA states that it has collapsed DSM and KISCO into one entity for purposes of this AD duty administrative review.

The International Trade Administration (ITA) has initiated antidumping (AD) and countervailing (CV) duty investigations of live swine from Canada.

In response to a motion by BellSouth, the U.S. Dist. Court, Atlanta, on Wed. blocked Joi Internet, owned by Hawk Communications, from advertising that its dial-up service operates at DSL speed. BellSouth had argued Joi Internet was using a deceptive advertising campaign, making false and misleading claims. “It is important that consumers understand the benefits of DSL and broadband versus dial-up connections,” BellSouth said: “Consumers should not be told that dial-up is as fast as DSL when it is not.” BellSouth said it compared Joi Express Internet Service to BellSouth’s FastAccess DSL and found Joi was 448% slower at downloading web pages and had slower connection time than DSL. Joi Internet said the company is considering whether to appeal the court’s preliminary injunction and accused BellSouth of initiating the suit to suppress competition.

Ubisoft’s Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow for Xbox was the #1-rented videogame in the U.S. for a 2nd consecutive week, Rentrak said its preliminary Home Video Essentials data for the week ended April 11 showed. Rentrak said the game earned an additional $302,752 in its 3rd week, for a total of $739,696 to date. Ubisoft and Electronic Arts (EA) again had 3 SKUs each in the top 10. Ubisoft’s other 2 games were again Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield for PS2 at #2 (up 2 in its 3rd week, earning $255,413 in the week, $591,961 to date) and Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Jungle Storm on PS2 at #10 (down one, 4th week, $165,466 in the week, $564,728 to date). EA’s 3 games -- all for PS2 -- were again Bond 007: Everything or Nothing at #4 (down one, 8th week, $220,332 in the week, $2.22 million to date), Need for Speed: Underground at #5 (up one, 21st week, $208,635 in the week, $6.95 million to date) and NFL Street at #8 (down one, 13th week, $172,332 in the week, $2.59 million to date). The only new title in the top 10 was NBA Ballers for PS2 from Midway Games at #9 ($168,943). Only 2 other games in the top 10 weren’t for PS2: Tecmo’s Ninja Gaiden for Xbox at #6 (down one, 6th week, $203,113 in the week, $1.53 million to date) and Nintendo’s Pokemon: Colosseum for GameCube at #7 (up one, 3rd week, $189,141 in the week, $474,000 to date). Rounding out the top 10 was Take-Two Interactive’s Mafia at #3 (down one, 11th week, $221,676 in the week, $3.09 million to date).

¹ The ITA states that the China-wide rate applies to all entries of subject merchandise except for entries from exporters/producers that are identified individually above.

In its first full week available, Fox’s Cheaper By the Dozen was the #1-rented video on DVD and VHS in the U.S., Rentrak said its preliminary Home Video Essentials data for the week ended April 11 showed. The title earned $9.38 million in the week, for a total of $9.54 million to date. On DVD alone, Rentrak said the title earned $6.95 million in the week and $7.07 million to date. But Warner’s The Matrix Revolutions was the #1-rented DVD of the week. Rentrak said the 3rd Matrix film earned $7.44 million on DVD in the week, $7.53 million to date. In combined DVD and VHS rentals, the title earned $9.09 million in the week, $9.2 million to date. Last week’s #1 title -- Columbia TriStar’s Something’s Gotta Give -- dropped to #3, earning an additional $8.49 million in the week in combined DVD and VHS rentals, $18.45 million to date. On DVD alone, the title earned an additional $6.33 million in the week, $13.71 million to date.