Trade Case Team Scores A Win For Camera Producer
Attorneys from the St Louis and Washington DC offices combined to score a win for client Highway Holdings in a complex patent law/trade case brought by Fuji Photo Film Ltd. Highway Holdings, a publicly listed camera producer based in Hong Kong, was forced to suspend plans to export its innovative re-usable cameras after Fuji Film filed a case under section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 alleging an infringement of its patents by a number of importers. Fuji sought to bar imports of Highway Holdings’ cameras in an accelerated proceeding before an Administrative Law Judge at the U.S. International Trade Commission. Despite Fuji’s claims, Patent law expert Patrick Rasche of the St Louis office concluded that the Highway Holdings cameras did not infringe key elements of the Fuji patents. Based on this assessment, the Washington DC team of long-time trade lawyer Patrick Fazzone and litigation specialist Joseph Cosby argued successfully that the Highway Holdings camera did not infringe Fuji patents. The ALJ’s determination, subsequently affirmed by the entire Commission, clears the path for Highway Holdings to sell the most recent generation of its re-usable cameras in the U.S. market.
Section 337 represents a potentially effective tool available to U.S.-based manufacturers to exclude imports that infringe their U.S. patent rights. Conversely, section 337 cases can effectively shut overseas manufacturers out of the United States market, in some cases merely through the specter of an action being brought. “If a foreign producer is not infringing a complainant’s patent, it is important for that producer to assert its rights to sell in this market,” stressed team leader Thomas Bottini who heads the St Louis office’s international department. “Through the combination of good facts and tenacious lawyering, our team was able to convey our side of the story in a proceeding in which the process, timing and momentum very much favored the complainant Fuji,” Bottini said.
Headed by Patrick Fazzone, the firm’s trade practice specializes in finding effective solutions to clients’ global business needs. Tighe Patton Armstrong Teasdale offers a highly-successful, nationally-recognized litigation team that, in combination with Armstrong Teasdale’s potent international and intellectual property law practices, can provide the expertise necessary to handle any type of international trade case or other matter involving global commerce.
For information on how we can assist you in
your business, contact:
International Trade Practice Group: contact Patrick Fazzone
at (202) 454 2856 or Thomas Bottini at (314) 342-8054;
Patent Law Practice Group: contact Patrick Rasche at (314)
552-6659;
Litigation Practice Group: contact Thomas Patton at (202)
454 2840.