Court Skeptical Trade Body Has Oversight of Digital Transmissions

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, a specialized court in Washington that hears patent appeals, appeared skeptical of claims by the US International Trade Commission that it can block Internet communications it finds infringe US patents.

“If we were to affirm the commission here, we would be saying that the ITC has jurisdiction over electronic transmission,” said Chief Judge Sharon Prost. “I don’t see very many limiting principles that might apply to future cases.”

“I’m not here to tell you exactly where the line is,” ITC attorney Sidney Rosenzweig said. But he said that while the agency claims authority over “digital goods,” it doesn’t seek to oversee “digital services” or telephone calls. He added that Internet service providers have specific protection from liability under a separate federal law, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Judge Pauline Newman suggested that by extending its power to digital transmissions, the commission was exceeding the authority Congress initially conceived for the panel 99 years ago. Rosenzweig argued that it was reasonable for the commission, like the Federal Trade Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission, to apply powers granted in earlier eras to modern conditions.