ITC Bars Infringing Milwaukee Glow Fish Tape Imports

Verified Disposition

The U.S. International Trade Commission determined that Milwaukee Electric Tool Corporation violated Section 337 by importing, selling for importation, or selling after importation certain glow fish tape products and components that infringe claim 6 of U.S. Patent No. 12,187,573, owned by Klein Tools.

The Commission issued a limited exclusion order and a cease-and-desist order against Milwaukee. It set a bond equal to 100 percent of the entered value of covered products imported during the presidential-review period and terminated the investigation.

Scope of the Result

The Commission reversed the administrative law judge’s noninfringement finding for the ’573 glow fish tape patent. It adopted the finding that the asserted glow fish tape claims were not obvious and maintained the finding that claim 6 of related U.S. Patent No. 11,713,209 was not infringed. For the safety-helmet patents, the Commission reversed the earlier violation finding under U.S. Patent No. 12,268,265 because the asserted claims were obvious.

The public notice records the operative result but does not supply the Commission’s detailed reasoning, which appears in a concurrently issued Commission opinion. This notice therefore does not infer reasoning beyond the findings and remedies stated in the public order.

Why It Matters

The determination immediately subjects infringing Milwaukee glow fish tape products to an import restriction, subject to presidential review, and confirms that Commission review can reverse an administrative law judge on both infringement and validity while changing which product line supports the ultimate Section 337 violation.

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