The Study Of The Case Tate&Lyle V. JK Company

U.S.337investigation, is a quasi-judicial process that U.S. International TradeCommission (“ITC”) investigates the intellectual property infringement and otherunfair competitive practices in the import trade, in accordance with the relevantprovisions on the section337of the U.S."Tariff Act of1930",and judges theinfringement and whether necessary to take remedies. U.S.337investigation becomesan obstacle to those importers who come into U.S. market, because of low eligibilitycriteria, harsh remedy, fast investigation procedures and high court costs of U.S.337investigations. In the21century, China has become the biggest target of U.S.337investigation in recent years, but few respondents fight these lawsuits, which led toChina’ export enterprises suffering a significant loss. However, the quantity ofChina’s victory in the U.S.337investigation has been increasing, thanks to in-depthknowing on U.S.337investigation and the improving of our own independentintellectual property rights.By studying China’s first case—Tate&Lyle v. JK Company, that China’s firstcompany took initiative in joining the U.S.337investigations and recovered, thisarticle draws a suitable intellectual property protection system for China’s imports,through surveying the basic system of U.S.337investigation and analyzing ourexisting intellectual property protection system on imported goods. Content of thisarticle is divided into the following four parts:The first part is the cause of action and the fact of the case. By introducing thedevelopment process of the case Tate&Lyle v. JK Company, we come to know thecause that JK Company taking initiative in joining U.S.337investigations. At last, JKCompany won this337investigation and thus become the world’s second largestproducer of sucralose, owing to their proactive attitude and self-confidence to theirown patent of the products.The second part is the controversy and legal analysis of the case. Legallyanalyzing the controversy from four aspects, the defendant’s eligibility of JK; thereasons why JK does not infringe Tate&Lyle’s patent; ITC does not have thejurisdiction to these patent and the requirements of the domestic industry is notcompleted. After that, we find out the reason why JK Company recovered and know the basic system of U.S.337investigation.The third part is the implications for import goods protection of China’s IPRfrom U.S.337investigation. So far, China’s imports goods are regulated by two mainintellectual property protection laws and regulations,"Foreign Trade Law" and"Regulations on Customs Protection of Intellectual Property Rights". But among theprovisions of them there are still many shortcomings. We should build our ownsystem of intellectual property protection for the imported goods in China, referencingto the characteristics of U.S.337investigation.The fourth part is to build a system of intellectual property protection for theimport goods in China. By understanding our current status of protection ofintellectual property in foreign trade and analyzing the basic system of U.S.337investigation, we design a set of system suitable for China’s national conditions aboutintellectual property protection of import goods, which centering on the relevantsubject, setting up a "rem jurisdiction", the judging rules of "import goods infringingintellectual property rights" and remedies.