US Steel Drops Hacking Charge Against China
Steel News | 2017-03-07 06:42:45
U.S. Steel has dropped its claim that China stole trade secrets, but it is still seeking to have all steel from that country banned from being imported.
By Paul Ploumis
Falls Church, VA(AIIS) - U.S. Steel has dropped its claim that China stole trade secrets, but it is still seeking to have all steel from that country banned from being imported.
The company filed a Section 337 complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) in April 2016 charging that Chinese companies conspired to fix prices, falsified the country of origin of their steel products, and hacked U.S. Steel’s computers, then “used valuable trade secrets stolen from U.S. Steel to produce advanced high-strength steel that no Chinese manufacturer had been able to commercialize before the theft.” The complaint asked that, because of all of this, the ITC bar entry of Chinese-made steel products into the United States.
In February, the company withdrew the trade secrets portion of the complaint, saying, “the decades old [Section 337] law never contemplated the technological advancements over the past 50 years that have led to the proliferation of cyber theft and other cyber crimes committed against American companies. ... We believe more cooperation and collaboration is needed between the federal government and the private sector to address the continued threat of malicious cyber crimes and to provide reasonable legal avenues available for corporate victims to seek remedies.”
The company is still pressing its price-fixing and country-of-origin falsification charges. In November, an administrative law judge ruled against U.S. Steel.
The ITC is reviewing the ruling and is expected to hear oral arguments in the case on March 14.
Courtesy : AIIS Newsletter
