In Laerdal Medical Corp. v. International Trade Commission, No. 17-2445 (Fed. Cir. Dec. 7, 2018), the CAFC reversed the ITC's final determination that Laerdal failed to plead its trade dress infringement claims with adequate detail, and vacated the Commission's decision that no relief was warranted for those claims. The CAFC remanded the case for the Commission to determine the appropriate remedy after consideration of public interest concerns. The CAFC held the use of the word "shall" in 19 U.S.C. § 1337(g)(1) unambiguously requires the Commission to grant relief against defaulting respondents, subject only to public interest concerns if all elements of the statute are satisfied. This appeal arose from an investigation at the ITC where Laerdal sought an exclusion order covering products such as spine boards, cervical collars, CPR masks, and training manikins. Further discussion of the decision can be found on Finnegan's Federal Circuit IP Blog.
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