BMW Secures Landmark ITC Victory: ALJ Terminates Zync Investigation Based on Forum-Selection Clause

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 29, 2026

WASHINGTON, DC—Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW AG) and BMW of North America, LLC (BMW NA), jointly BMW, announced a landmark victory in their dispute with Zync, extending their winning streak across every forum in which the parties have litigated. On July 28, 2026, Administrative Law Judge Bryan F. Moore of the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) issued an Initial Determination granting BMW’s Motion to Terminate Investigation No. 337-TA-1493 in its entirety based on the parties’ forum-selection clause.

The ruling marks the first known instance in which an ITC administrative law judge has terminated a contested Section 337 investigation on a forum-selection clause and represents a significant reaffirmation of the enforceability of commercial agreements. The result follows BMW’s coordinated litigation strategy spanning the ITC, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, the California state court, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. To date, every court and tribunal to reach the merits of the parties’ forum-selection agreement has ruled in BMW’s favor and enforced the parties’ agreement.

In granting BMW’s Motion to Terminate, the ALJ rejected each of Zync’s principal arguments for avoiding the parties’ mandatory forum-selection clause. The ALJ held that the parties’ agreement requiring litigation in Munich, Germany, must be enforced, rejected Zync’s contention that Section 337 constitutes “mandatory law” overriding that agreement, rejected Zync’s public-policy arguments, and terminated the investigation in its entirety. In doing so, the Initial Determination substantially undermines several of the same arguments Zync continues to press in its pending Ninth Circuit appeal.

“This is a complete victory for BMW and a historic result before the ITC,” said Lionel Lavenue, lead counsel for BMW at Finnegan. “The ALJ’s decision confirms that sophisticated parties cannot avoid the forum-selection agreements they freely negotiate simply because they later prefer a different forum. Zync repeatedly attempted to evade its contractual commitment to litigate these disputes in Munich. Through a coordinated, multi-forum litigation strategy, BMW successfully enforced that agreement across the California state court, the Northern District of California, and now the ITC, while also defeating Zync’s request for emergency relief before the Ninth Circuit. The result is a consistent series of victories that reinforces the enforceability of negotiated commercial agreements.”

The decision represents the culmination of a coordinated, multi-forum litigation strategy that produced a series of significant victories for BMW:

• California State Court: BMW NA prevailed when the court dismissed Zync’s substantially identical claims based on the parties’ forum-selection clause.
• Northern District of California: BMW AG prevailed when the court entered a preliminary injunction enforcing the forum-selection clause and ordering Zync to seek a stay of the ITC investigation.
• Ninth Circuit: BMW AG prevailed when the Ninth Circuit denied Zync’s emergency motion to stay enforcement of the preliminary injunction. The merits appeal remains pending.
• U.S. International Trade Commission: BMW prevailed when the ALJ terminated Zync’s investigation based on the parties’ forum-selection clause.

The ITC’s ruling brings the parties one step closer to resolving any remaining dispute in the forum they selected by contract—Munich, Germany. BMW has consistently denied Zync’s allegations and maintains that any claims concerning the parties’ confidential information belong before the courts in Munich, Germany, where BMW AG has already initiated declaratory judgment proceedings against Zync. BMW fully expects those proceedings in the contractually selected forum to confirm that Zync’s trade secret misappropriation claims are without merit.

Contacts
 
Terra Liddell, Chief Marketing Officer
terra.liddell@finnegan.com

Angela Robinson, Director of Branding and Communications
angela.robinson@finnegan.com

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