PROTECTION UNDER THE TARIFF ACT OF 1930.

SEC. 1342. PROTECTION UNDER THE TARIFF ACT OF 1930. (a) In General.— Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1337) is amended as follows: (1) Subsection (a) is amended to read as follows: “(a) (1) Subject to paragraph (2), the following are unlawful, and when found by the Commission to exist shall be dealt with, in addition to any other provision of law, as provided in this section: “(A) Unfair methods of competition and unfair acts in the importation of articles (other than articles provided for in subparagraphs (B), (C), and (D)) into the United States, or in the sale of such articles by the owner, importer, or consignee, the threat or effect of which is— “(i) to destroy or substantially injure an industry in the United States; “(ii) to prevent the establishment of such an industry; or “(iii) to restrain or monopolize trade and commerce in the United States. “(B) The importation into the United States, the sale for importation, or the sale within the United States after importation by the owner, importer, or consignee, of articles that— “(i) infringe a valid and enforceable United States patent or a valid and enforceable United States copyright registered under title 17, United States Code; or “(ii) are made, produced, processed, or mined under, or by means of, a process covered by the claims of a valid and enforceable United States patent. “(C) The importation into the United States, the sale for importation, or the sale within the United States after importation by the owner, importer, or consignee, of articles that infringe a valid and enforceable United States trademark registered under the Trademark Act of 1946. “(D) The importation into the United States, the sale for importation, or the sale within the United States after importation by the owner, importer, or consignee, of a semiconductor chip product in a manner that constitutes infringement of a mask work registered under chapter 9 of title 17, United States Code. “(2) Subparagraphs (B), (C), and (D) of paragraph (1) apply only if an industry in the United States, relating to the articles protected by the patent, copyright, trademark, or mask work concerned, exists or is in the process of being established. “(3) For purposes of paragraph (2), an industry in the United States shall be considered to exist if there is in the United States, with respect to the articles protected by the patent, copyright, trademark, or mask work concerned— 102 STAT. 1213 “(A) significant investment in plant and equipment; “(B) significant employment of labor or capital; or “(C) substantial investment in its exploitation, including engineering, research and development, or licensing. “(4) For the purposes of this section, the phrase ‘owner, importer, or consignee’ includes any agent of the owner, importer, or consignee.”. (2) Subsection (c) is amended by inserting before the period in the first sentence the following: “, except that the Commission may, by issuing a consent order or on the basis of a settlement agreement, terminate any such investigation, in whole or in part, without making such a determination”. (3) Subsection (e) is amended— (A) by striking out “If” in the first sentence and inserting “(1) If”; and (B) by adding at the end thereof the following new paragraphs: “(2) A complainant may petition the Commission for the issuance of an order under this subsection. The Commission shall make a determination with regard to such petition by no later than the 90th day after the date on which the Commission’s notice of investigation is published in the Federal Register. The Commission may extend the 90-day period for an additional 60 days in a case it designates as a more complicated case. The Commission shall publish in the Federal Register its reasons why it designated the case as being more complicated. The Commission may require the complainant to post a bond as a prerequisite to the issuance of an order under this subsection. “(3) The Commission may grant preliminary relief under this subsection or subsection (f) to the same extent as preliminary injunctions and temporary restraining orders may be granted under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.”. (4) Subsection (f) is amended— (A) by striking out “In lieu of” in paragraph (1) and inserting “In addition to, or in lieu of,”; and (B) by striking out “$10,000 or” in paragraph (2) and inserting “$100,000 or twice”. (5) Such section is further amended— (A) by redesignating subsections (g), (h), (i), and (j) as subsections (j), (k), (1), and (m), respectively; and (B) by inserting after subsection (f) the following new subsections: “(g) (1) If— “(A) a complaint is filed against a person under this section; “(B) the complaint and a notice of investigation are served on the person; “(C) the person fails to respond to the complaint and notice or otherwise fails to appear to answer the complaint and notice; “(D) the person fails to show good cause why the person should not be found in default; and “(E) the complainant seeks relief limited solely to that person; the Commission shall presume the facts alleged in the complaint to be true and shall, upon request, issue an exclusion from entry or a cease and desist order, or both, limited to that person unless, after considering the effect of such exclusion or order upon the public health and welfare, competitive conditions in the United States economy, the production of like or directly competitive articles in 102 STAT. 1214the United States, and United States consumers, the Commission finds that such exclusion or order should not be issued. “(2) In addition to the authority of the Commission to issue a general exclusion from entry of articles when a respondent appears to contest an investigation concerning a violation of the provisions of this section, a general exclusion from entry of articles, regardless of the source or importer of the articles, may be issued if— “(A) no person appears to contest an investigation concerning a violation of the provisions of this section, and “(B) such a violation is established by substantial, reliable, and probative evidence. “(h) The Commission may by rule prescribe sanctions for abuse of discovery and abuse of process to the extent authorized by Rule 11 and Rule 37 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. “(i) Forfeiture.— “(1) In addition to taking action under subsection (d), the Commission may issue an order providing that any article imported in violation of the provisions of this section be seized and forfeited to the United States if— “(A) the owner, importer, or consignee of the article previously attempted to import the article into the United States; “(B) the article was previously denied entry into the United States by reason of an order issued under subsection (d); and “(C) upon such previous denial of entry, the Secretary of the Treasury provided the owner, importer, or consignee of the article written notice of— “(i) such order, and “(ii) the seizure and forfeiture that would result from any further attempt to import the article into the United States. “(2) The Commission shall notify the Secretary of the Treasury of any order issued under this subsection and, upon receipt of such notice, the Secretary of the Treasury shall enforce such order in accordance with the provisions of this section. “(3) Upon the attempted entry of articles subject to an order issued under this subsection, the Secretary of the Treasury shall immediately notify all ports of entry of the attempted importation and shall identify the persons notified under paragraph (1)(C). “(4) The Secretary of the Treasury shall provide— “(A) the written notice described in paragraph (1)(C) to the owner, importer, or consignee of any article that is denied entry into the United States by reason of an order issued under subsection (d); and “(B) a copy of such written notice to the Commission.”. (6) Subsection (k) (as redesignated by paragraph (5)(B) of this section) is amended— (A) by inserting “(1)” before the first sentence; and (B) by adding at the end the following: “(2) If any person who has previously been found by the Commission to be in violation of this section petitions the Commission for a determination that the petitioner is no longer in violation of this section or for a modification or rescission of an exclusion from entry or order under subsection (d), (e), (f), (g), or (i)— 102 STAT. 1215 “(A) the burden of proof in any proceeding before the Commission regarding such petition shall be on the petitioner; and “(B) relief may be granted by the Commission with respect to such petition— “(i) on the basis of new evidence or evidence that could not have been presented at the prior proceeding, or “(ii) on grounds which would permit relief from a judgment or order under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.”. (7) Subsection (1) (as redesignated by paragraph (5)(B) of this section) is amended— (A) by striking out “claims of United States letters patent” in the first sentence and inserting “a proceeding involving a patent, copyright, or mask work under subsection (a)(1)”; and (B) by striking out “a patent owner” in the second sentence and inserting “an owner of the patent, copyright, or mask work”. (8) Such section is further amended by adding at the end the following: “(n) (1) Information submitted to the Commission or exchanged among the parties in connection with proceedings under this section which is properly designated as confidential pursuant to Commission rules may not be disclosed (except under a protective order issued under regulations of the Commission which authorizes limited disclosure of such information) to any person (other than a person described in paragraph (2)) without the consent of the person submitting it. “(2) Notwithstanding the prohibition contained in paragraph (1), information referred to in that paragraph may be disclosed to— “(A) an officer or employee of the Commission who is directly concerned with carrying out the investigation in connection with which the information is submitted, “(B) an officer or employee of the United States Government who is directly involved in the review under subsection (h), or “(C) an officer or employee of the United States Customs Service who is directly involved in administering an exclusion from entry under this section resulting from the investigation in connection with which the information is submitted.”. (b) Technical Amendments.— Section 337 (as amended by subsection (a)) is further amended— (1) by amending subsection (b)— (A) by striking out “Department of Health, Education, and Welfare” in paragraph (2) and inserting “Department of Health and Human Services”; and (B) by striking out “Secretary of the Treasury” in paragraph (3) and inserting “Secretary of Commerce”; (2) by amending subsection (c)— (A) by striking out “or (f)” and inserting “(f), or (g)”, and (B) by striking out “and (f)” and inserting “(f), and (g)”; (3) by striking out “or (f)” each place it appears in subsection (j) and inserting “(f), (g), or (i)”; (4) by striking out “(g)” in subsection (k) and inserting “(j)”; and (5) by striking out “or (f)” in subsection (1) and inserting “(f), (g), or (i)”. (c) Conforming Amendment.— The Act entitled “An Act to limit the importation of products made, produced, processed, or mined 102 STAT. 1216under process covered by unexpired valid United States patents, and for other purposes”, approved July 2, 1940 (54 Stat. 724, 19 U.S.C. 1337a), is repealed. (d) Effective Date.— (1) (A) Subject to subparagraph (B), the amendments made by this section shall take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act. (B) The United States International Trade Commission is not required to apply the provision in section 337(e)(2) of the Tariff Act of 1930 (as amended by subsection (a)(3) of this section) relating to the posting of bonds until the earlier of— (i) the 90th day after such date of enactment; or (ii) the day on which the Commission issues interim regulations setting forth the procedures relating to such posting. (2) Notwithstanding any provision of section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930, the United States International Trade Commission may extend, by not more than 90 days, the period within which the Commission is required to make a determination in an investigation conducted under such section 337 if— (A) the Commission would, but for this paragraph, be required to make such determination before the 180th day after the date of enactment of this Act; and (B) the Commission finds that the investigation is complicated.