For the First Time in 27 Years, an ITC Import Ban has Been Overturned by the USTR

One of the problems with our patent system is that the US International Trade Commission, can, and frequently does, ban imports of infringing products, which provides an additional way to allow patent trolls to extort productive companies.

This has become more of a problem since recent court rulings have made injunctive relief less likely.

The fact that the US Trade Repreresentative has overrruled the ITC is therefore a very big deal:

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman’s Aug. 3 decision on Apple found that a product ban wasn’t appropriate because the patent at the heart of the dispute was part of an industry standard and was supposed to be licensed at reasonable terms. Froman’s conclusion is expected to affect several pending cases at the U.S. International Trade Commission, including Ericsson AB and InterDigital Inc. (IDCC)’s claims against Samsung for infringing patented network standards technology.

“A huge swath of everybody’s patent portfolio has just been rendered impotent,” said Rodney Sweetland, a patent lawyer with Duane Morris in Washington. Standards patents “are dead on arrival” at the commission now, he said.

DOA, huh?  My heart bleeds borscht.  You can still go to court, where they actually have to prove their case.

The reason that the ITC has this power is the theory that patent violations constitute an illegal trade subsidies.

Hopefully, this particular method of patent abuse will see increasingly large numbers of smack-downs from the executive branch.