The State Department may intervene in certain patent applications if they contain technical data controlled under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls said in guidance issued Sept. 30. While DDTC said it does not “restrict” the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office from publishing patents, it may impose an “invention secrecy order” on the patent application if it contains ITAR-sensitive information. That secrecy order would force the USPTO to “withhold the publication of the application or the grant of a patent.”
The State Department issued the final version of its guidance on exports of surveillance technology (see 1909040071 and 1911060049), which includes definitions and guidance principles for companies to weigh before exporting sensitive items to potential human rights abusers. The Sept. 30 guidance expands on the agency’s initial definition of human rights due diligence and offers a range of red flags and due diligence considerations, but did not significantly narrow its definition for surveillance items, despite requests from industry.
The State Department will temporarily remove export restrictions on nonlethal defense goods and services to Cyprus, the agency said in a temporary final rule released Sept. 25. The move will suspend restrictions for one year on exports, reexports, retransfers and temporary imports of certain defense goods if the end user is the Cyprus government, a “request” is made by or on behalf of the Cyprus government and no “credible” human rights concerns are involved with the shipment. The State Department said it will suspend the restrictions, which includes amending the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, because Cyprus is cooperating with the U.S. on anti-money laundering revisions and has taken steps to deny Russian military vessels access to ports for servicing. The restrictions will be lifted Oct. 1 and will expire Sept. 30, 2021, unless extended.
A former employee for a Virginia night-vision equipment manufacturer pleaded guilty to selling night vision devices and components over the internet, the Justice Department said Sept. 23. Steven Rosine stole the equipment while working as a production engineer at Harris Corp.’s manufacturing facility in Roanoke, where he had access to the company’s equipment. The Justice Department said Rosine, of Troutville, Virginia, stole and sold image intensifier tubes, night vision systems and other parts, a majority of which were made using “classified production data” and controlled under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. Rosine made more than $119,000 from selling the ITAR-controlled items. He faces a maximum 10-year prison sentence and a possible fine of up to $250,000.
A U.S. citizen was sentenced to 21 months in prison for stealing technology data from U.S. companies and illegally exporting it to South Korea, the Justice Department said Sept. 16. Si Mong Park stole technical proprietary data from two American defense contractors where he worked as a software engineer, the agency said. In 2011, he took data related to military aircraft and a missile system to South Korea, presenting the data to non-U.S. people to “drum up business for his company,” the Justice Department said. The information contained technical data subject to export controls under the Arms Export Control Act and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. Along with the prison sentence, he was sentenced to three years of supervised release.
Registration and licensing applications for the State Department’s Defense Export Control and Compliance System will be unavailable 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. EDT Sept. 22, a Sept. 18 notice said. The system will be down for scheduled maintenance, the State Department said, and users should save work in progress before the downtime begins.
A lack of understanding of export controls in university settings is delaying or sometimes preventing research, the Association of University Export Control Officers said in a Sept. 17 letter to the Department of Defense. The group said the confusion is particularly a problem surrounding export restrictions on fundamental research: research that is widely published and shared within the scientific community.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories for Sept. 8-11 in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching on the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
Four people, including a civilian employee of the Navy working as an engineer, were arrested for their involvement in a scheme to illegally download and sell export controlled technical drawings of U.S. military systems, the Department of Justice said Sept. 2. Navy engineer Mark Fitting of Berlin, New Jersey, allegedly worked with Lighthouse Point, Florida, resident Melony Erice to sell the drawings to Newport Beach, California-based Newport Aeronautical Sales Corp. (NASC), which later resold the documents to foreign customers, the agency said. Fitting and Erice allegedly sold at least 5,000 technical manuals and drawings to NASC, working with NASC employees George Posey and Dean Mirabal, both of Costa Mesa, California, who also were arrested.
The Bureau of Industry and Security ought to make available information that is more specific to university export compliance, the Association of University Export Control Officers said in a recent letter to BIS. The letter was prompted by a May Government Accountability Office report that similarly said more guidance for universities would be helpful (see 2005120053). “While it is possible for universities to glean some needed information from outreach materials and training geared toward industry, it can be difficult at times to interpret industry-focused guidance to the university environment,” the association said.