The Future Of Antitrust Claims At The ITC

In March, the U.S. International Trade Commission issued its long-awaited opinion in Certain Carbon and Alloy Steel Products, nearly a full year after the ITC held a rare full-day oral hearing before the full commission. The ITC dismissed the antitrust-based Section 337 complaint brought by complainant U.S. Steel, holding that U.S. Steel failed to plead the requisite "antitrust injury" to maintain its action before the ITC. While one commissioner (Commissioner Meredith M. Broadbent) dissented from the ITC's decision, the commission's dismissal of U.S. Steel's complaint caused some to question whether there remained a viable path for antitrust-based claims at the ITC. But the ITC's initiation of an antitrust-based Section 337 investigation just days later in Certain Programmable Logic Controllers shows that the door for antitrust claims at the ITC has not closed. Those interested in bringing future antitrust-related claims at the commission should use the guidance