Is Section 337 of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 helping or hurting the Economy?
In an article entitled A Backdoor Move to Shut Out Rivals printed in the August 26th, 2013 publication of The Wall Street Journal, expresses concern that the International Trading Commission (ITC) is wasting resources and restraining economic growth by acting as a referee in the patent conflicts among creators of smart phones. The article also acknowledges the fact that current President Barrack Obama has done something that has not been done since the administration of Ronald Reagan. Obama decided to overrule the commission when they tried to block imports of specific iPhones and iPads made overseas by Apple Inc. (which is an American company), because they infringed on U.S. patents retained by Samsung Electronic Col Ltd. (which is a Korean company). According to this article, “Section 337 of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, which has been amended over the year, gives the ITC power to block a patent-infringing item at the border if “domestic industry” can show its patents have been infringed.” (Wessel) There are many supporters of this law; however, there are many that oppose it.
Supporters of the ITC claim that it gives U.S. companies, both big and small, a way to combat the theft of intellectual property. This approach is described as quicker, cheaper and more practical than proceeding through the courts and/or having to track down these offenders overseas. Deanna Tanner Okun, a former ITC chairwoman states “As intellectual property increases in importance, patient holders should be looking for avenues to enforce their rights.” (Wessel) Okun believes that there are very few effective trade solutions and the import ban is one of the best ways. This entire enterprise is being questioned by the people who oppose the ITC system. These folks think that these claims of the ITC are a waste of resources and could potentially restrain economic growth. In this piece it...