TIANRUI GROUP CO v. ITC, (2011)

Extract

---

TIANRUI GROUP CO v. ITC, (2011)

United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

TIANRUI GROUP COMPANY LIMITED AND TIANRUI GROUP FOUNDRY COMPANY LIMITED, Appellants,

and

STANDARD CAR TRUCK COMPANY, INC. AND BARBER TIANRUI RAILWAY SUPPLY, LLC,

Appellants,

v.

INTERNATIONAL TRADE COMMISSION,

Appellee,

and

AMSTED INDUSTRIES INCORPORATED,

Intervenor.

2010-1395

On appeal from the United States International Trade Commission in Investigation No. 337-TA-655.

Decided: October 11, 2011

TIANRUI GROUP CO v. ITC 2

TOM M. SCHAUMBERG, Adduci, Mastriani & Schaumber, LLP, of Washington, DC, argued for all appellants. With him on the brief for TianRui Group Company Limited, et al., was JONATHAN J. ENGLER. Also on the brief,

were JOEL M. FREED, McDermott Will & Emery, LLP, of Washington, DC; and RUIXUE RAN, Jun He Law Offices, of Beijing, P.R. China. Of counsel were STEVEN H. HOEFT,

McDermott, Will & Emery, LLP, of Washington.

ANDREA C. CASSON, Assistant General Counsel, Office of the General Counsel, United States International Trade Commission, of Washington, DC, for Appellee. With him on the brief were JAMES M. LYONS, General

Counsel, and CLINT A. GERDINE, Attorney.

DEAN A. PELLETIER, McAndrews, Held & Malloy, Ltd., of Chicago, Illionis, for intervenor. With him on the brief were GREGORY J. VOGLER, WILHELM L. RAO, YUFENG MA,

and MICHAEL J. KRAUTNER. Of counsel on the brief were

LYLE B. VANDER SCHAAF and JAY H. REIZISS, Brinks Hofer

Gilson & Lione, of Washington, DC.

Before BRYSON, SCHALL, and MOORE, Circuit Judges.

Opinion for the court filed by Circuit Judge BRYSON.

Dissenting opinion filed by Circuit Judge MOORE.

BRYSON, Circuit Judge

This appeal arises from a determination by the International Trade Commission that the importation of certain cast steel railway wheels violated section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930, 19 U.S.C. § 1337. The Commission found that the wheels were manufactured using a process that was developed in the United States, protected under domestic trade secret law, and misappropriated abroad.

3

TIANRUI GROUP CO v. ITC

We are asked to decide whether the Commission's statutory authority over "[u]nfair methods of competition and unfair acts in the importation of articles . . . into the United States," as provided by section 337(a)(1)(A), allows the Commission to look to conduct occurring in China in the course of a trade secret misappropriation investigation. We conclude that the Commission has authority to investigate and grant relief based in part on extraterritorial conduct insofar as it is necessary to protect domestic industries from injuries arising out of unfair competition in the domestic marketplace.

We are also asked to decide whether the Commission erred by finding that the imported wheels would injure a domestic industry when no domestic manufacturer is currently practicing the protected process. In light of the evidence before the Commission regarding the marketplace for cast steel railway wheels, we affirm the Commission's determination that the wheel imports threaten to destroy or substantially injure an industry in the United States, in violation of section 337.

I

A

Amsted Industries Inc. is a domestic manufacturer of cast steel railway wheels. It owns two secret processes for manufacturing such wheels, the "ABC process" and the "Griffin process." Amsted previously practiced the ABC process at its foundry in Calera, Alabama, but it no longer uses that process in the United States. Instead, Amsted uses the Griffin process at three of its domestic foundries. Amsted has licensed the ABC process to several firms with foundries in China.

TIANRUI GROUP CO v. ITC 4

TianRui Group Company Limited and TianRui Group Foundry Company Limited (collectively, "TianRui") manufacture cast steel railway wheels in China. In 2005, TianRui sought to l...

See the full content of this document

---