Today, in a strong opinion from the Federal Circuit, an attempt for rightsholders to use an obscure trade court to block the “importation” of digital data was rejected. The Federal Circuit held that a court that has the ability to block “articles that infringe” does not have the ability to block digital data. As we previously wrote, ClearCorrect v. ITC involves patents on digital dental sets. The patent owner argued that the International Trade Commission (ITC), an executive agency trade court, had the ability to block purely digital data at the border if that data were found to infringe a US patent. The ITC agreed with the patent owner, holding that “articles” within the meaning of the statute that gives the ITC authority could be interpreted broadly to include not only material goods, but also data. Today, the Federal Circuit rejected that position. The Court first looked at the plain meaning of the word “articles.” The Court…
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