Internet & Social Media Law Blog
Last week, the en banc Federal Circuit declined to rehear its November 10, 2015, decision in ClearCorrect v. ITC, 2014-1527, leaving the U.S. International Trade Commission’s (ITC) Section 337 jurisdiction to “material things” that infringe U.S. intellectual property rights. This denial and the 2015 Federal Circuit decision have wide implications for a variety of industry sectors, especially those involved with the Internet of Things or any company that may transfer digital assets across the U.S. border. Regarding the case, this denial restricts the ITC from prohibiting ClearCorrect’s importation of digital files used to manufacture teeth aligners that allegedly infringed complainant Align Technology’s patents. (For more details on the November 10, 2015 decision, see our post, “Living in a Nonmaterial World: Determining IP Rights for Digital Data.”)