This article discusses an emerging trend in the intellectual property world and how the International Trade Commission (ITC) has been flooded recently with patent disputes involving billions of dollars worth of products. The author, Jenna Greene, states that there's never been a year like 2010 at the agency, where the number of intellectual property cases filed hit an all-time high, up 75% from 2009. The article poses the question, “why are so many lawyers and their Fortune 500 clients now flocking to the ITC to pursue patent or trademark infringement claims?” Some of the answers, according to Greene, are an increase in speed of patent cases, the U.S. Supreme’s Courts decision in eBay Inc. v. MercExchange LLC that made the remedies available at the ITC more attractive as well as foreign companies who make greater use of the forum to protect their U.S. patents, among other factors. "The ITC has clearly been transformed from being an obscure specialty forum that a small part of the bar was aware of to one that essentially any patent litigator — and their clients — would know of as an option," said Smith Brittingham IV, a partner at Finnegan. "There are very few disputes where it isn't an option. It's now in the mix as one of the go-to forums."
