Analysis Of Patent Infringement Defense In337Investigation

337Rules is the abbreviation of section337of the United States Tariff Act of1930, which authorizes United States International Trade Commission to investigate the practices of any alleged infringement on United States intellectual property rights and other unfair acts in import trade, and to take sanctions against them. The investigation is based on the provisions in this section, so is called337Investigation. In the investigation of patent infringement, there are three kinds of reasonable defenses relied on Statute Law, Equitable Law, and337Rules. In the337Investigation case (No.337-TA-571) we discussed in this paper, the defendant used several defenses, such as Inequitable Conduct, Failing to disclose best mode, Non-obviousness, and Unclean Hands. With the investigation cases involving Chinese corporation increasing year by year, China-to-America exportation enterprises should command the defense strategies in the new situation to confront337Investigation on patent infringement.This paper uses case analysis method, taking the patent infringement defenses in337Investigation research as a whole, and discusses the focus of two sides dispute as the starting point, based on China-to-America exportation enterprises’core interests. This article is divided into three parts:The first part is an overview, introducing the background of patent infringement cases in337Investigation (including the legal basis for the relief measures and its characteristics), the research status, Lysine Case (including the involved parties, complaints, the involved products and patents), as well as select case value and research significance.Analysing the reason of ITC initiating the investigation, more than80%cases is against patent infringement. Analysing the object of the investigation of these cases, China’s exports to the U.S. companies are sued frequently. Lysine Case (Docket No.337-TA-571) is one of the few successful cases, whose respondent party behaved wonderfully not only in the iniatial trial, but also in the review and the appeal. The excellent performance of the defendant proved that the sued infringement was not existed, and had also forced the plaintiffs two patent be declared invalid, giving the latecomer great reference.The second part is the body, consists of three chapters:Chapter One is analysis of focused dispute, at first, proposing that the focus of controversy in this case is on the validity of the patent and reasonability of the applied defense, and then, analysing their legal origin, applicable standards and logical reasoning process.of the four applied defenses (Inequitable Conduct, Failing to disclose best mode, Non-obviousness, and Unclean Hands).Chapter Two summarizes the three defense types of337Investigation patent infringement defense relied on Statute Law, Equitable Law, and337Rules. The first defense type may argue that the respondent party hasn’t real material infringement, plaintiff’s patent is invalid, and the behavior is not deemed as an infringement. In second type, the alleged infringer party can use several principles of equitable defenses, such as Inequitable Conduct, Unclean Hands, Misuse, Estoppel and Slack. The337Rules Defense might advocate not meeting the requirement of Domestic Industry or damaging the Public Interest.Chapter three is to explore the coping strategies of Chinese enterprises in the new situation. The new round of Patent Law’s amending is in a wide range, and mainly written in the1249American Invents Act. The new change will inevitably bring about many changes in the defense aspects, such as in the case whose patent is proved unenforceable based on Best Mode Defense, but in the future this defense will not be used alone as a patent invalid basis. In addition, the new jurisprudence often leads to the emergence of the new rules, which should attract the attention of the theoretical and practical circles. I proceed from the Lysine Case, referred the recently influential cases, and then studied the patent infringement defense strategy in337Investigation for Chinese enterprises, hoping some help can be done to the future defense of the respondent companies.