We were delighted to host Judge Essex, who delivered a public lecture titled “The ITC: An Insider’s View.” Judge Essex joined Hogan Lovells as Senior Counsel after a decade of service as a U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) judge. Judge Essex also met IP law students at a roundtable after his lecture, where he answered wide-ranging questions from them.

Judge Essex’s lecture provided insight into one of the most consequential agencies of the U.S. Government for the enforcement of IP. The ITC is at the epicenter of litigation for patent disputes—not only in the U.S. but also disputes originating between companies around the globe, adjudicating cases involving billions of dollars in product value. In recent years, one in seven U.S. patent trials takes place at the ITC—more than in any district court. Unlike the courts, the ITC has jurisdiction based simply on the products being present in the U.S. ITC cases also move more quickly than the courts. These present both important challenges and opportunities to stakeholders in the IP world.