The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit will create a "learning center" with the goal of educating local public school students at the court, Chief Judge Kimbelry Moore announced Nov. 20 at the Federal Circuit Bar Association's 2023 Annual Dinner & Reception. The center is expected to open in September 2024 and will feature tours of the courtroom's "historic spaces" along with interactive education programming centering on "the intersection between law and technology." The center will focus on combining "civic education, the judiciary, and STEM" and cap off a multiyear renovation of the National Courts complex, the court said.
Zhenyu Wang and Daniel Lane, both Texas residents, were convicted on Nov. 15 of attempting to skirt U.S. sanctions on Iran in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, DOJ announced. DOJ said they both tried to "transact in sanctioned Iranian petroleum and launder the proceeds" and were convicted of attempting to violate IEEPA, conspiracy to violate IEEPA, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
The following lawsuit was recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
Importer Valeo North America will appeal a Nov. 8 Court of International Trade decision sustaining the Commerce Department's scope ruling that the company's T-series aluminum sheet is covered by the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on common alloy aluminum sheet from China. In the decision, the trade court upheld Commerce's consideration of and weight applied to various industry evidence along with its detailed discussion of heat treatment (see 2311090034). According to the notice of appeal, Valeo will take the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Valeo North America v. United States, CIT # 21-00581).
The U.S. added two attorneys to its litigation team in the massive Section 301 case at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Filing an amended notice of appearance on Nov. 20, the government tacked on Melissa Patterson and Joshua Koppel -- two attorneys in DOJ's Civil Appellate Division -- to the appellee team for the U.S. (HMTX Industries v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 23-1891).
The Court of International Trade in a Nov. 20 opinion granted the motion from a group of Canadian exporters to reinstate their exclusion from the countervailing duty order on softwood lumber from Canada after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed a CIT ruling that overturned an expedited review that excluded them from the duties. The court also made the exclusion of the exporters effective back to August 2021, when the companies were first subjected to the order.
The World Trade Organization's Committee on Customs Valuation, meeting Nov. 15, adopted changes to "leverage digital tools more effectively" and adopt the eAgenda platform, which "facilitates for delegations the preparation and follow-up of meetings," the WTO announced. The members also agreed that the Secretariat would organize introductory sessions and post information on the Secretariat's website describing the committee's work "with a view to enhancing transparency."
The following lawsuit was recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The scope of the antidumping duty order on carbon steel butt-weld pipe fittings from China "unambiguously" applies to pipe fittings "in finished and unfinished form," AD petitioners Tube Forgings of America and Mills Iron Works argued in a Nov. 16 complaint at the Court of International Trade. Commerce's determination "eviscerates" the order's remedial effect by interpreting the term "unfinished form" to mean "create subcategories of pipe fittings in unfinished form," then saying these subcategories excluded certain pipe fittings in unfinished form, the brief said (Tube Forgings of America v. U.S., CIT # 23-00236).
The Commerce Department cannot make the contradictory finding that the process of assembly or completion of solar cells in Cambodia was insignificant, while simultaneously saying these processes, involving the formation of a positive-negative junction on a polysilicon wafer, give the solar cells their essential character, exporter BYD HK Co. said in a Nov. 16 complaint at the Court of International Trade (BYD (H.K.) Co. v. U.S., CIT # 23-00221).