Agenda
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Day 1 — Main Conference
May 4, 2027
Registration and Breakfast
ITC Year in Review: Section 337 Filing Trends, Notable Investigations, Key Determinations, and a Newly Constituted Commission
Join our opening panel as they provide an overview of the past year at the ITC, analyzing trends in Section 337 filings and appeals, significant investigations and decisions, and the broader policy considerations shaping the Commission’s work, alongside an assessment of the evolving landscape of the ITC under five newly confirmed Commissioners.
Topics of discussion include:
- Examining Section 337 filing trends, appeals data, and what recent activity suggests about the current enforcement climate
- Reviewing notable investigations, influential determinations, and post-order advisory opinions
- E.g., fast-tracking the review of whether Apple infringed GG Technologies Inc’s patent through sales of certain iPhones and Apple Watch models
- Policy considerations emerging from major decisions, including implications for remedy frameworks and economic/public interest factors
- E.g., lobbying for legislation that would narrow the scope of the ITCs jurisdiction following the inconsistent rulings by the Federal Circuit and ALJ Bhattacharyya of the ITC in the Apple and Masimo dispute over the Apple Watch
- Forecasting how the new Commissioners’ may shift priorities, alter enforcement approaches, and impact future outcomes
- Analyzing what the current policy environment may mean for the ITC’s agenda, including its approach to trade, competition, national security, and cross-agency coordination
Establishing Domestic Industry Post-Lashify: Navigating the Economic Prong, Holistic Analysis and Emerging Challenges
Following Lashify and Wuhan Healthgen, establishing the economic prong of the domestic industry requirement increasingly requires a contextual assessment of investments, R&D, distribution and other activities across the statutory prongs.
This session will examine how the analysis is evolving, what recent decisions reveal about the Commission’s approach and what counsel should consider when building or challenging a domestic industry case.
Topics of discussion include:
- Assessing the evolving requirements for each prong following Lashify, Wuhan Healthgen and recent Federal Circuit developments
- Applying the holistic and contextual approach to domestic industry by examining how investments, R&D, distribution and other activities may be assessed across the economic prongs
- Understanding the limits of domestic industry evidence including the Commission’s treatment of individual assessments, the “mere importer” test and other potential limitations
- Evaluating what constitutes significant and substantial investment under Section 337 and how recent cases are shaping the analysis
- Examining recent and emerging domestic industry challenges through cases including Masimo v. Apple and Apple’s potential Supreme Court review of the Federal Circuit’s decision on the ITC import ban
Networking Break
Managing Costs and Defense Strategies Among Multiple ITC Respondents: When to Fight, Settle, or Redesign
The compressed pace and significant costs of an ITC investigation can make the decision to fight, settle, redesign or seek a license particularly challenging for smaller respondents. And where multiple respondents face the same investigation, coordinated strategies and joint defense can help manage costs and discovery, but respondents must also account for their own commercial interests and determine where their strategies need to diverge.
This session will develop a playbook for the unique challenges faced by smaller respondents in a multi-respondent investigation and hearing.
Topics of discussion will include:
- Evaluating the economics of defending an ITC investigation including outside counsel, discovery and the costs of fighting versus settling, licensing or redesigning
- Coordinating strategies among multiple respondents while determining when to share resources and when individual interests require a different approach
- Assessing when to fight, settle or redesign including the use of consent orders, settlement agreements, licensing and product redesign
- Managing divergent respondent strategies when some respondents settle, take a license or stop importing while others continue to litigate
- Making critical decisions under the ITC’s compressed timeline while balancing cooperation, strategic flexibility and individual commercial interests
Networking Luncheon
Join our panel of ALJs as they provide valuable insights from the Bench, including the ins and outs of 337 practice, the most common mistakes made by Section 337 litigators, and trial tactics practitioners may consider using which would more positively impact the presentation of a case.
Don’t miss this rare opportunity to hear how the ALJs evaluate the theories asserted by parties during a Section 337 investigation, their expectations regarding timelines and discovery, Markman hearings, and more.
Case in Focus: BioMarin v. Ascendis and the Strategy for Parallel ITC and District Court Proceedings
In 2025, BioMarin filed an ITC complaint against Ascendis, a day after Ascendis had filed a new drug application with the FDA for its own drug. Less than two weeks later, Ascendis filed a complaint for declaratory judgment of noninfringement in federal district court, asserting, among other things, that its activities are exempt under the safe harbor. Using these proceedings as a “case in focus,” this session will explore how forum selection, timing, stays and procedural decisions can shape litigation strategy, costs and commercial outcomes when proceedings move forward in parallel.
Topics of discussion will include:
- Tracing the BioMarin v. Ascendis proceedings from the ITC investigation through the FDA filing, declaratory judgment action, dismissal and refiling, and district court stay
- Analyzing the strategy behind parallel proceedings and the considerations involved in litigating related patent issues before the ITC and district courts
- Assessing the timing and consequences of seeking a stay following Ascendis’ decision not to seek a mandatory stay within the statutory period
- Examining how forum and procedural choices can affect the relationship between ITC and district court proceedings and remedies
- Coordinating parallel litigation with commercial timelines including regulatory filings, product launches and ITC proceedings
Networking Break
When a patent covers one component of a complex product, an ITC investigation can raise challenges that extend well beyond infringement, from proving domestic industry and tracing liability across a supply chain to reaching downstream products and securing effective remedies. This session will examine how complainants and respondents are navigating these issues, including the strategic implications of third-party evidence, product redesigns, customs enforcement and public-interest considerations.
Topics of discussion include:
- Analyzing how complainants must allocate investments to the specific protected article, and how recent Federal Circuit and Commission decisions have shaped the technical and economic prongs when the patented technology is one component of a larger product
- Examining the reach of limited and general exclusion orders to downstream products and the strategic choice of whom to name as respondents
- Evaluating infringement and importation questions that arise when components are sourced from multiple suppliers or combined after entry into the United States
- Assessing the practical challenges of third-party discovery, supplier indemnity, and joint defense in investigations involving shared upstream components
- Navigating remedy design, bond setting, and redesign strategies, including customs rulings and enforcement proceedings, for products where the accused component is a small part of the whole
In-House Roundtable: The Ins and Outs of Managing ITC Litigation and Strengthening Dialogue with External Counsel
ITC litigation moves at a rapid pace, combines complex technical issues with unique procedural demands, and often places respondents at an early disadvantage. For in-house counsel, success depends not only on early strategic decision-making and disciplined case management, but on effective coordination with external counsel and translating legal advice into clear business guidance for the broader organization. In this interactive session, experienced in-house counsel will share perspectives on:
- Building an effective in-house/external counsel partnership by establishing clear roles, communication protocols, expectations and decision-making processes from investigation through hearing
- Understanding outside counsel pricing and staffing models
- Evaluating whether to pursue or defend a Section 337 investigation
- Translating legal strategy into business strategy: turning external counsel’s legal advice into practical guidance on risk, costs, business priorities and strategic options for internal stakeholders
- Working efficiently within the compressed ITC schedule
- Determining where in-house involvement adds the most value
- Assessing dispositive relief, cease-and-desist orders, settlement and other strategic options while maintaining alignment between legal and business objectives
Networking Cocktail
Conference Adjourns
Day 2 — Main Conference
May 5, 2027
Registration and Breakfast
An ITC exclusion order does not necessarily end the dispute. Importers seeking to bring redesigned products into the U.S. must determine how best to establish that their products fall outside the order, whether through the ITC, CBP or an at-risk import strategy. This session will compare these pathways, examining their respective timelines, costs, evidentiary requirements and strategic risks.
Topics of discussion will include:
- Comparing ITC advisory and modification proceedings with CBP rulings under §177, including timing, cost, discovery and evidentiary requirements
- Assessing what makes a successful design-around before the ITC or CBP and when each pathway may be preferable
- Evaluating the risks and potential benefits of importing redesigned products at risk, including protests and potential ITC enforcement
- Examining challenges to CBP determinations through the lens of Masimo v. Apple and other design-around disputes
- Managing post-exclusion enforcement strategies, including additional ITC proceedings, CBP enforcement and civil penalties
Keynote
Networking Break
Navigating Global SEP Litigation: Forum Strategy, FRAND Rates, Injunctions and Lessons from InterDigital v. Disney
This panel will examine the increasingly complex global landscape of SEP and FRAND litigation, where parallel proceedings, competing FRAND determinations, licensing obligations, and cross-border injunctions can significantly shape litigation and settlement strategy. Using recent developments including InterDigital v. Disney as a case study, the panel will explore how parties can coordinate proceedings and protect their interests across jurisdictions.
Topics of discussion include:
- Assessing forum and enforcement strategy across the ITC, U.S. district courts, UK, European and other jurisdictions
- Managing competing FRAND determinations and remedies including FRAND rates, interim licences, injunctions and exclusion orders
- Coordinating parallel proceedings and cross-border relief including anti-suit and anti-anti-suit injunctions and conflicting international rulings
- Drawing lessons from precendential or recent global SEP/FRAND disputes including Nokia v Amazon and InterDigital v. Disney
- Balancing litigation and business risks for SEP holders and implementers when negotiating, licensing, enforcing and pursuing global settlement
Keynote
Networking Lunch
A successful ITC case requires more than proving the elements of a claim or defense; counsel must build a case that gives the ALJ a clear and persuasive path through complex technology, evidence and legal issues. This session will explore practical strategies for developing that case from the earliest stages through the hearing, including tailoring tutorials and expert evidence, using technology effectively and making the most of a compressed trial schedule.
Topics of discussion will include:
- Identifying what needs to be proved and developing the evidence, information and case theory needed to give the ALJ a clear path to the desired outcome
- Tailoring technology tutorials to the case including determining when and how to explain complex technology, claim construction, prior art and other technical issues
- Using graphics, animation and other technology effectively to make complex technology and IP issues more accessible and persuasive without overwhelming the ALJ
- Adapting case presentation to different types of investigations including wireless, design patent, automotive and method-of-treatment cases
- Maximizing experts and trial time by determining when to deploy expert evidence and how to structure a persuasive case within the scope of the hearing schedule
Recent developments are making the ITC an increasingly attractive forum for disputes that historically may have been pursued elsewhere, from life sciences litigation to emerging forms of unfair trade. This panel will examine the key developments driving that shift and then take a practical look at what counsel should consider when evaluating whether Section 337 is the right forum for a particular dispute.
Topics of discussion include:
- Exploring the growing appeal of the ITC for life sciences disputes including how to divide patent strategies among Section 337, Hatch-Waxman and the BPCIA
- Examining whether the evolving path to domestic industry following Lashify and Wuhan Healthgen is a factor making the ITC more attractive
- Preparing for the ITC’s unique practical and public-interest considerations
- Assessing public-interest risks, potential remedy limitations, evidentiary burdens and the compressed ITC timeline when deciding whether and how to pursue a novel Section 337 strategy
- Assessing possible novel applications of Section 337 in the context of unfair methods of competition and unfair acts
Networking Break
The ITC is considered a good forum for trade secret disputes, offering distinctive approaches to discovery and, arguably, an easier time for complainants to satisfy Section 337(a)(1)(A)’s domestic industry requirement.
This session will examine the latest developments through recent investigations and hearings and will analyze what these developments mean for companies pursuing or defending trade secret claims at the ITC.
Topics of discussion include:
- Examining the ITC’s distinctive discovery tools and how its authority can address cross-border discovery challenges and alleged discovery misconduct
- Assessing the evolving domestic industry and injury requirements for trade secret complainants, including the significance of development-stage investments and threatened injury
- Analyzing recent investigations and hearings involving trade secret misappropriation at the ITC, including Certain Selective Thyroid Hormone Receptor-Beta Agonists, Processes for Manufacturing or Relating to Same, and Products Containing Same, Inv. No. 337-TA-1352 and Certain Glass Substrates for Liquid Crystal Displays, Products Containing the Same, and Methods for Manufacturing the Same, Inv. No. 337-TA-1433 (ITC)
- Evaluating how the ITC is assessing trade secret misappropriation including evidence of independent development, intermingling of information and the credibility of witnesses
- Assessing the strategic advantages and risks of pursuing trade secret claims at the ITC including discovery, evidentiary burdens, supply-chain implications and the potential for exclusionary relief