The so-called Article 337 means that if any products exported to the United States are designed to infringe the prior intellectual property rights of the United States, the owners of American patents and trademarks can submit an "application" to the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) according to Article 337 of the US Customs Law 1930 to protect their rights, such as patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets, from being infringed by imported goods.
In the United States, there are three main ways to solve the problem of intellectual property infringement: one is to sign a license agreement with the intellectual property owner; Second, the obligee filed an infringement lawsuit in the US District Court; Third, the obligee requested the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) to conduct an investigation according to Article 337 of the United States Customs Law. Because ITC investigation is time-consuming and low-cost, and once the infringement is found, it is possible to issue a "comprehensive exclusion order", which can exclude all similar infringing products imported into the United States, which is very beneficial to the protection of intellectual property owners and may cause a fatal blow to China's export enterprises to the United States.
China is becoming one of the manufacturing centers in the world, and China company has the ability to do research and development by itself. The products exported from China to the United States have higher and higher technical content and are more closely related to patent rights. Because of its growing threat to American competitors, there will definitely be more and more cases involving 337 investigation.
With the increasing number and types of China's trade with the United States, China enterprises are facing more and more intellectual property protection problems in the United States. In the past three years, the US International Trade Commission initiated 6 1 investigations involving Section 337, of which 15 involved 47 China enterprises. In May this year, eight major battery manufacturers in China were investigated by the US International Trade Commission under Section 337. How to deal with the US International Trade Commission's investigation on China enterprises and products according to Section 337?
According to the expert's suggestion, we must pay attention to the following four aspects:
Raiders 1: If you don't want to be targeted by Article 337, you must pay attention to two points: avoid infringing others' patent rights; Establish their own intellectual property protection.
Patent search should be carried out first to determine whether American patents of products or American patents of manufacturing methods of products may be involved. If there is the possibility of infringement, it can be avoided by replacing non-patented methods. You can also get a license from the patent owner, or reach an agreement with the American importer, and the importer will bear the tort liability. In the United States, we must protect our trademarks and not infringe them. This work needs to be very careful, because in the United States, colors, color combinations, sounds and even smells can be the main body of trademark protection.
Raiders II: When the owners of American patents and trademarks think that China enterprises infringe, they can issue a "Stop Infringement Warning Letter" to ask the parties to stop the infringement, or they can suggest that the parties obtain patent license from the patent owners.
After receiving this letter, all parties concerned should immediately consult the American patent agency and decide the solution as soon as possible. If the relevant parties fail to reply to this letter, the patent owner will file a direct court action or ITC investigation on patent infringement in the United States.
Raiders III: Clause 337 is a protective measure for American enterprises to prevent competitors from entering the American market.
For the "Article 337" case, if the enterprise does not respond, it means losing the case, which means that the enterprise will lose its export market in the United States for a long time. It may be more terrible than anti-dumping, because anti-dumping only raises tariffs and has a time limit; If the Section 337 investigation is established, the exporter's products may be permanently excluded from the US market. According to the procedures of the International Trade Commission, if the American obligee submits a motion to the administrative judge, the enterprises involved in China have only six working days to raise objections. Therefore, we should seriously consider whether to reply in time.
Don't ignore the investigation, and don't risk expecting other companies that are also listed as infringers to stand up and respond. You should immediately contact a lawyer who is familiar with this business and take the initiative to face the challenges of Americans.
Raiders 4: When choosing an American law firm, we should pay attention to the following aspects: the law firm must be familiar with the procedures of the US International Trade Commission; It is best for the firm to be located in Washington, D.C., or to have branches in Washington, D.C.; This company specializes in trademark and patent agency.
I hope my answer is helpful to you.