The International Trade Administration issued an antidumping duty order on steel wire garment hangers from Vietnam (A-552-812). The order details a two-day "gap period" of Jan. 30-31 of no AD duty liability due to the expiration of the provisional measures period. Also, AD cash deposits collected between May 4 and Aug. 1, 2012 will be refunded because of the International Trade Commission's determination of no critical circumstances.
The U.S. is experiencing an “historically high” patent grant rate after decades of increases, but the government’s patent system needs improvement, said the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program Friday in a new report. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted 247,713 patents during 2011, a “record high” that follows steady increases in patent grant rates that extend back to 1985, Brookings said (http://xrl.us/bod6n4).
The U.S. is experiencing a “historically high” patent grant rate after decades of increases, but the government’s patent system needs improvement, said the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program Friday in a new report. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted 247,713 patents during 2011, a “record high” that follows steady increases in patent grant rates that extend back to 1985, Brookings said (http://xrl.us/bod6n4).
The International Trade Administration and the Mexican tomato industry initialed a draft agreement Feb. 2 that would continue to suspend the antidumping duty investigation of fresh tomatoes from Mexico. Without such an agreement, prices for popular types of tomatoes could increase to almost $5 per pound, industry groups have said. Agreements suspending the AD investigation have been in place since 1996, and renewed in 2002 and 2007. The investigation reached the preliminary stage in 1996 before agreement was reached, finding AD rates of 4.16 to 188.45 percent for Mexican tomato exporters.
The International Trade Commission is publishing notices in the Feb. 1 Federal Register on the following AD/CV injury, Section 337 patent, and other trade proceedings (any notices that warrant a more detailed summary will appear in another ITT article):
The International Trade Administration published notices in the Feb. 1 Federal Register on the following AD/CV proceedings (any notices that announce changes to AD/CV duty rates, scope, affected firms, or effective dates will be detailed in another ITT article):
CBP is extending the comment period to March 6 for an existing information collection on unlading and CBP overtime request applications. CBP proposes to extend the expiration date of this information collection without a change to the burden hours or to the information collected.
The International Trade Administration issued the preliminary results of its antidumping administrative review of stainless steel bar from India (A-533-810) for Ambica Steels Limited. The ITA calculated a preliminary zero AD rate for the company. It also rescinded this review with respect to Mukand, Ltd. because of a withdrawal of requests for review. If the ITA continues to find a zero AD rate for Ambica in the final results, it will instruct CBP to liquidate entries of Ambica's subject merchandise during the period of review without regard to AD duties. These preliminary results are not in effect. The ITA may modify them in the final results of this review and change the estimated AD cash deposit rate for this company.
The International Trade Administration published notices in the Jan. 30 Federal Register on the following AD/CV proceedings (any notices that announce changes to AD/CV duty rates, scope, affected firms, or effective dates will be detailed in another ITT article):
Groups representing media and entertainment companies are considering developing a series of public service announcements (PSAs) aimed at addressing issues related to gun violence, industry officials told us this week. The preliminary discussions follow recent scrutiny from the legislative and executive branches into the effects that media violence could have on children, after December’s elementary school massacre in Newtown, Conn. Videogame industry executives didn’t take part in the discussions, media industry officials said.