Sharp has infringed parts of two Samsung LCD patents, an ITC administrative law judge ruled in setting the stage for a Feb. 9 hearing. Judge Paul Luckern’s preliminary decision, still subject review by the six-member ITC, found that Sharp violated four claims across two patents granted in 2004 and 2005, including one covering an LCD with a substrate, first electrode and first domain dividers. The display also had a “branch” that extends at an obtuse angle from the edge of the first electrode, the patent states. Luckern upheld a claim in a second patent covering a substrate with a field- generating electrode in the pixel region. Luckern found that Sharp didn’t infringe two other Samsung LCD patents. Samsung initially filed a complaint with the ITC on Dec. 21, 2007. The ITC launched a probe into its claims in January 2008. The ITC in October declined to review Luckern’s earlier finding that Samsung’s complaint met the “economic prong” of the “domestic industry requirement,” according to ITC documents. Samsung’s filing sought to bar the import of Sharp TVs that infringed its patents. Sharp sold 4.8 million LCD TVs outside Japan in the year ended in March 2008, with the U.S. accounting for about half of the international sales.
The International Trade Administration has issued the final results of its antidumping duty administrative review of folding metal tables and chairs from China for the period of June 1, 2006 through May 31, 2007.
The International Trade Administration has issued the final results of its antidumping duty administrative review of tapered roller bearings and parts thereof, finished and unfinished, from China for the period of June 1, 2006 through May 31, 2007.
The International Trade Administration has amended its final affirmative countervailing duty determination and has issued a CV duty order on circular welded carbon quality steel line pipe (line pipe) from China.
The Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles have issued news releases announcing that that they are scheduled to begin collecting the Clean Trucks Fee on February 18, 2009.
CBP has issued its weekly tariff rate quota (TRQ) and tariff preference level (TPL) commodity report as of January 21, 2009. This report includes TRQs on various products such as beef, sugar, dairy products, peanuts, cotton, cocoa products, tobacco, certain BFTA, DR-CAFTA, Israel FTA, JFTA, MFTA, SFTA, UAFTA (AFTA) and UCFTA (Chile FTA) non-textile TRQs, etc. Each report also includes the AGOA, ATPDEA, BFTA, DR-CAFTA, CBTPA, Haitian HOPE, MFTA, NAFTA, SFTA, and UCFTA TPLs and TRQs for qualifying apparel and/or other textile articles, the TRQs on worsted wool fabrics, etc. (Weekly commodity report available at http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/trade/trade_programs/textiles_and_quotas/commodity/)
The International Trade Administration has issued its final results of the countervailing duty administrative review of corrosion-resistant carbon steel flat products from Korea for the period of January 1, 2006 through December 31, 2006.
CBP has issued a CSMS message stating that it fixed a problem, at approximately 11:13 a.m. EDT on January 17, 2009, with ACE regarding difficulty submitting e-Manifests via the portal. (CBP previously issued a CSMS message stating ACE was experiencing a nationwide problem impacting the trade. CBP then issued a CSMS message stating that it expected to fix the problem by 11:00 a.m. EDT on January 17th. (CSMS 09-000047 issued 01/17/09, available at http://apps.cbp.gov/csms/viewmssg.asp?Recid=17433&page=&srch_argv=&srchtype=&btype=&sortby=&sby=)
Preliminary 2008 Blu-ray sales in Europe included 431,000 stand-alone players and 8 million discs, the European Blu-ray Disc Association told Consumer Electronics Daily. Final figures will be available this month. The player tally was 13 times as high as 2007’s, and excludes PS3, Norway and business-to-business sales, the association said, citing sell-through figures from research firm GfK. PS3 sales weren’t immediately available. The 8 million Blu- ray movie sales were three times as high as in 2007. It included 3.7 million discs sold in the U.K., where nearly half the total was sold in December -- four times as high as a year earlier. France accounted for 1.7 million disc sales, five times as many as in 2007 -- and 47 percent sold in December. About 1.6 million discs were sold in Germany last year. Comparable figures from 2007 weren’t available. European markets with lower Blu-ray sales included Italy, Spain, and the Benelux and Nordic regions. The European numbers compare with about 3 million stand-alone Blu-ray players sold in the U.S. in 2008, and about 7.7 million PS3 consoles. U.S. sell-through of Blu-ray discs was 24 million in 2008, according to the U.S. BDA (CED Jan 12 p8). Shipments to retailers North America last year was 63 million, the Digital Entertainment Group reported (CED Jan 9 p15).
The International Trade Administration has issued its final results of the antidumping duty administrative review of polyethylene retail carrier bags from Thailand for the period of August 1, 2006 through July 31, 2007.