Senator Cornyn Considers Expansion Of ITC's Authority Under Section 337

Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930, 19 U.S.C. § 1337 ("Section 337"), gives the U.S. International Trade Commission ("ITC") broad powers to investigate and address unfair acts and unfair competition in the importation of articles into the United States. Most Section 337 investigations address issues of infringement of statutory intellectual property such as patents, trademarks, and copyrights. Recently, however, Section 337 has increasingly been used to address other unfair acts such as misappropriation of trade secrets, false advertising, breach of contract, and antitrust violations. One primary advantage of the ITC over other fora is the ITC's ability to issue Exclusion Orders - powerful remedies that are enforced by U.S. Customs and Border Protection ("CBP") to prevent the importation of offending products into the United States.