The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a US International Trade Commission (ITC) decision that a respondent qualified as an importer under § 337 despite not being the actual importer of record, based on the respondent’s involvement in the importation. Comcast Corp. et al. v. ITC, Case Nos. 18-1450, -1653, -1667 (Fed. Cir. Mar. 2, 2020) (Newman, J).

In 2016, Rovi filed a complaint with the ITC against Comcast and its suppliers based on infringement allegations of seven patents related to digital video guide technologies. Rovi dropped one asserted patent prior to trial, and the ITC’s administrative law judge ultimately found a § 337 violation based on two of the remaining patents. In late 2017, the ITC commissioners affirmed the administrative law judge’s determination and entered an exclusion order against Comcast.

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