Showing posts with label
International Trade Commission.
Show all posts
Showing posts with label
International Trade Commission.
Show all posts
By Alex Yeager
Last year, the
International Trade Commission made a grab for power – over Internet
signals. While traditionally focused on
screening physical goods, the body attempted to state in a case last year that
it had the ability to
“prevent digital material from crossing the U.S. border.” Last week, however, the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the Federal Circuit limited the Commission’s power to control over “material
things”, a reported victory for internet search providers such as Google,
and a loss for parties that suffer from rampant pirating, such as film studios.
By Justin Kirschner
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has
ruled that the International Trade Commission does not have the power to
prevent the import of patent-infringing digital files like it may patent-infringing
physical goods. Though argued
over imported digital models for invisible orthodontic braces, the Federal
Circuit’s ruling will reverberate across the intellectual property landscape
and be felt acutely in Hollywood and Silicon Valley, two mega-industries battling
over digital piracy that were closely watching this case. On one side are
the content creators—the movie studios, record labels and the like—who
argue that the import of blatantly pirated copyrighted works is killing
their industries, and that the ITC should be empowered to stop it at the
border. On the other side are the digitally native content transmitters, like Google,
and open-internet
advocates who hailed the decision as a bulwark against the over-regulation
of digital commerce. It remains to be seen if the ruling will be appealed to a
full Federal Circuit panel, or even to the Supreme Court.
