By Augustus Golden and Daniel Valencia, Covington & Burling LLP (May 8, 2017, 5:10 PM EDT) -- Over the past few years, commissioners at the International Trade Commission have shown interest in grappling with questions of the breadth and nature of the ITC's power to issue cease and desist orders as a remedy for violations of Section 337. In the words of one commissioner, there is a "recurring and perhaps increasing diversity of opinion within the Commission concerning the Commission's authority to issue CDOs under Section 337."[1] Section 337 empowers the ITC to issue both exclusion orders and CDOs as remedies for violations of its statute.[2] Unlike an exclusion order that is automatically enforced against imported products by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, a CDO is directed at the party found violating Section 337, is enforced by the commission at the request of the complainant, and carries with it civil penalties of up to $100,000 per day of violation. In 2012, the Federal Circuit upheld a civil penalty of $11 million issued by the commission for 187 days of violation of a cease and desist order.[3] These penalties can be a powerful deterrent....