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ITC


Deanna Tanner Okun, chairman of the US International Trade Commission, talks to WIPR about the ITC’s statutory mission and her role within it.


T e US International Trade Commission (ITC) is responsible for adjudicating unfair competition complaints under Section 337 of the Tariff Act. In eff ect, it is asked to ensure that owners of US intellectual property rights can protect them against infringing goods being imported into the United States.


How did you come to be head of the ITC?


T is is my second time as chairman of the ITC. I was appointed and confi rmed by the Senate, and came to the commission in 2000, so I’m in my 10th year here. I served as chairman from 2004 to 2006, and the statute provides for a rotating chairmanship between the political parties, as part of our independent makeup. It’s one of the things that helps keep us independent as an agency.


We had a Democratic chairman whose term came to an end and so it was the turn for a Republican commissioner. T e President can designate a chairman and vice-chairman, but if he chooses not to, then by statute, the chairmanship goes to the senior commissioner from the other political party. I’m the senior Republican, and so became chairman by operation of the law.


Is it a political role?


No. T at’s one of the interesting things about the ITC, in terms of independent agencies, even in Washington, because there are six political appointees but no more than three from either party, and a rotating chairmanship. Many


commissions have an uneven number and so one party can control the substance.


T e ITC chairmanship is really an administrative chairmanship. So I deal with a lot more management issues than when I was just a commissioner. You play a role as commissioner, but the chairman ensures that the agency runs on time—the chairman has no extra vote, so the fact that one is chairman really does not aff ect the outcome of substantive decision-making.


Our statutory mission on the IP side means that cases come to us. Private entities fi le their complaints here. We don’t go out and initiate cases, and when cases come in, they’re adjudicated by administrative law judges in the fi rst instance. T e chairman plays a role in making sure that any initial procedural questions that arise are dealt with. But it’s a consensus chairmanship, so if parties ask us for something, such as an oral hearing before the commission in a Section 337 investigation, the chairman has one vote. I help marshall things through in a timely manner, but not by trying to infl uence the outcome that my colleagues might reach.


What is the ITC’s role in relation to IP?


We’re very much a creature of our statute and of the statutory mission we’ve been given. In this case, there are two areas that would be of interest. First and foremost, is our Section 337 jurisdiction. T e statute itself relates to unfair competition and to goods imported into the United States.


www.worldipreview.com


World Intellectual Property Review September/October 2010


45


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