I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2189 

To amend section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 with respect to requirements 

for domestic industries, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 27, 2017 

Mr. CA ́RDENAS (for himself, Mr. FARENTHOLD, Mr. SWALWELL of California, 

and Mr. ISSA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To amend section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 with respect 

to requirements for domestic industries, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Trade Protection Not 

5 Troll Protection Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 

7 The purpose of this Act is to ensure that the re8 sources of the United States International Trade Commis9 sion are focused on protecting genuine domestic indusVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:51 Apr 29, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2189.IH H2189

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1 tries, to restore confidence with the trading partners of 

2 the United States that the Commission will not be a dupli3 cative forum for enforcing intellectual property rights 

4 when United States district courts are already available, 

5 and to safeguard the public health and welfare and the 

6 United States economy (including competitive conditions). 

7 SEC. 3. UNFAIR PRACTICES IN IMPORT TRADE. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 

9 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1337) is amended as follows: 

10 (1) Subsection (a) is amended— 

11 (A) in paragraph (3)— 

12 (i) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of sub13 paragraph (B); 

14 (ii) in subparagraph (C), by striking 

15 ‘‘engineering, research and development, or 

16 licensing.’’ and inserting ‘‘engineering and 

17 research and development; or’’; and 

18 (iii) by adding after subparagraph (C) 

19 the following: 

20 ‘‘(D) substantial investment in licensing activi21 ties that leads to the adoption and development of 

22 articles that incorporate the patent, copyright, trade23 mark, mask work, or design.’’; 

24 (B) by redesignating paragraph (4) as 

25 paragraph (5); and 


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1 (C) by inserting after paragraph (3) the 

2 following: 

3 ‘‘(4) For purposes of paragraph (3), the complainant 

4 may not rely upon activities by its licensees unless the li5 cense leads to the adoption and development of articles 

6 that incorporate the claimed patent, copyright, trademark, 

7 mask work, or design for sale in the United States.’’. 

8 (2) Subsection (b) is amended— 

9 (A) in paragraph (1), by inserting after 

10 the first sentence the following: ‘‘For a com11 plaint under oath, a person may be relied upon 

12 to qualify as an industry under subsection 

13 (a)(2) only if the person joins the complaint 

14 under oath, except that nothing in this sentence 

15 shall be construed to compel such a person to 

16 join the complaint.’’; and 

17 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

18 ‘‘(4)(A) The Commission shall identify, at the begin19 ning of an investigation, whether the investigation pre20 sents a dispositive issue appropriate for an expedited fact 

21 finding and an abbreviated hearing limited to that issue, 

22 and shall direct the assigned administrative law judge to 

23 rule on such issue early in the investigation. The Commis24 sion, in its notice of instituting the investigation, shall set 


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1 out specific timeframes for such expedited fact finding and 

2 hearing. 

3 ‘‘(B) If the Commission identifies a domestic industry 

4 as the dispositive issue in question, the Commission shall 

5 direct the assigned administrative law judge to expedite 

6 fact finding in the investigation on the domestic industry 

7 requirement, including an early evidentiary hearing, and 

8 to issue an initial determination on this matter within 100 

9 days after the investigation is instituted. 

10 ‘‘(C) Any initial determination by the assigned ad11 ministrative law judge under subparagraph (A) or (B) 

12 shall stay the investigation pending Commission action.’’. 

13 (3) Subsection (c) is amended— 

14 (A) by striking the first sentence and in15 serting the following: ‘‘(1) The Commission 

16 shall determine, with respect to each investiga17 tion conducted by it under this section, whether 

18 or not there is a violation of this section, except 

19 that the Commission— 

20 ‘‘(A) may, by issuing a consent order or on the 

21 basis of an agreement between the private parties to 

22 the investigation, including an agreement to present 

23 the matter for arbitration, terminate any such inves24 tigation, in whole or in part, without making such 

25 a determination; or 


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1 ‘‘(B) may determine during the course of the 

2 investigation that the exclusion of the articles under 

3 investigation would not be in the interest of the pub4 lic, after considering the nature of the articles con5 cerned and the effect of such exclusion upon the 

6 public health and welfare, the United States econ7 omy (including competitive conditions), the produc8 tion of like or directly competitive articles by the 

9 complainant and its licensees, United States con10 sumers, and any other relevant considerations, and 

11 terminate any such investigation, in whole or in 

12 part, without making any further determination.’’; 

13 (B) in the second sentence, by striking 

14 ‘‘Each determination’’ and inserting the fol15 lowing: 

16 ‘‘(2) Each determination’’; 

17 (C) by inserting after ‘‘the Federal Circuit 

18 for review in accordance with chapter 7 of title 

19 5, United States Code.’’ the following: ‘‘In addi20 tion, any person adversely affected by a ruling 

21 of the Commission under subsection (b)(4) may 

22 appeal such ruling, within 60 days after all ad23 ministrative remedies are exhausted, to the 

24 United States Court of Appeals for the Federal 

25 Circuit for review in accordance with chapter 7 


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1 of title 5, United States Code. In the event that 

2 the Commission’s ruling is appealed under this 

3 subsection and upon motion by the adversely af4 fected party, the Commission shall stay all fur5 ther proceedings in the investigation until all 

6 appeals are final.’’; 

7 (D) by striking ‘‘its findings on the public 

8 health and welfare, competitive conditions in 

9 the United States economy,’’ and inserting ‘‘its 

10 findings on the public health and welfare, the 

11 United States economy (including competitive 

12 conditions),’’; and 

13 (E) by inserting ‘‘by the complainant and 

14 its licensees’’ after ‘‘the production of like or di15 rectly competitive articles’’. 

16 (4) Subsection (d)(1) is amended by striking 

17 the first sentence and inserting the following: ‘‘If the 

18 Commission determines, as a result of an investiga19 tion under this section, that there is a violation of 

20 this section and that exclusion of the articles con21 cerned would be in the interest of the public, after 

22 considering the nature of the articles concerned and 

23 the effect of such exclusion upon the public health 

24 and welfare, the United States economy (including 

25 competitive conditions), the production of like or diVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:51 Apr 29, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2189.IH H2189

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1 rectly competitive articles by the complainant and its 

2 licensees, United States consumers, and any other 

3 relevant considerations, the Commission shall direct 

4 that the articles concerned that are imported by any 

5 person violating the provision of this section be ex6 cluded from entry into the United States.’’. 

7 (5) Subsection (e)(1) is amended by striking 

8 the first sentence and inserting the following: ‘‘If, 

9 during the course of an investigation under this sec10 tion, the Commission determines that there is reason 

11 to believe that there is a violation of this section and 

12 that exclusion of the articles concerned would be in 

13 the interest of the public, the Commission may di14 rect that the articles concerned that are imported by 

15 any person with respect to whom there is reason to 

16 believe that such person is violating this section be 

17 excluded from entry into the United States, after 

18 considering the nature of the articles concerned and 

19 the effect of such exclusion upon the public health 

20 and welfare, the United States economy (including 

21 competitive conditions), the production of like or di22 rectly competitive articles by the complainant and its 

23 licensees, United States consumers, and any other 

24 relevant considerations.’’. 


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1 (6) Subsection (f)(1) is amended by striking the 

2 first sentence and inserting the following: ‘‘In addi3 tion to, or in lieu of, taking action under subsection 

4 (d) or (e), the Commission may issue and cause to 

5 be served on any person violating this section, or be6 lieved to be violating this section, as the case may 

7 be, an order directing such person to cease and de8 sist from engaging in the unfair methods or acts in9 volved, after considering the nature of the articles 

10 concerned and the effect of such exclusion upon the 

11 public health and welfare, the United States econ12 omy (including competitive conditions), the produc13 tion of like or directly competitive articles by the 

14 complainant and its licensee, United States con15 sumers, and any other relevant considerations.’’. 

16 (7) Subsection (g)(1) is amended by amending 

17 the matter following subparagraph (E) to read as 

18 follows: 

19 ‘‘the Commission shall presume the facts alleged in the 

20 complaint to be true and shall, upon request, issue an ex21 clusion from entry or a cease and desist order, or both, 

22 limited to that person, after considering the nature of the 

23 articles concerned and the effect of such exclusion upon 

24 the public health and welfare, the United States economy 

25 (including competitive conditions), the production of like 


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1 or directly competitive articles by the complainant and its 

2 licensees, United States consumers, and any other relevant 

3 considerations.’’. 

4 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

5 subsection (a) shall apply to complaints filed under section 

6 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 on or after the date of the 

7 enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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