Federal Circuit Remands Issues Decided By Initial Determination But Not Substantively Reviewed By The ITC

Last Month at the Federal Circuit - March 2012

Judges: Rader, Newman (author), Linn

[Appealed from ITC]

In General Electric Co. v. International Trade Commission, No. 10-1223 (Fed. Cir. Feb. 29, 2012), the Federal Circuit affirmed-in-part, vacated-in-part, reversed-in-part, and remanded the ITC's findings in a Section 337 investigation concerning wind turbines imported by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. and Mitsubishi Power Systems Americas, Inc. (collectively "Mitsubishi"). Mitsubishi's turbines were investigated in view of three wind turbine patents owned by General Electric Company ("GE").

It was undisputed during the ITC investigation that both Mitsubishi and GE sell variable speed wind turbines in the United States. Moreover, the turbines of each party employ "doubly-fed" induction generators, meaning that they utilize two electromagnetic fields to generate electricity for transmission over the power grid. While the doubly-fed design is generally