When the ITC Makes Sense for Tech Disputes

As PTAB challenges have become harder to initiate and sustain, this session considers when and how this could be used for plaintiffs and defendants. In sectors like MedTech, where device manufacturing, component supply chains, and the importation of medical technologies are central to disputes, the ITC can present a particularly strategic forum. This session examines when Section 337 investigations offer real strategic advantage, and when their speed and remedies create more risk than value.

• How and when the ITC offers strategic advantages over other forums.
• How parties are sequencing ITC investigations with PTAB proceedings and district court actions, in light of discretionary denial risk and parallel-proceeding dynamics.
• How SEP and FRAND arguments are treated at the ITC, including limits on injunctive relief, public-interest considerations, and how these issues affect leverage for both implementers and SEP holders.
• Compare outcomes of tech disputes at the UPC and ITC; review recent decisions and consider the benefits the UPC’s higher injunction rates.