Chinese vitamin C makers off the hook for U.S. antitrust violations

Last month, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vacated a $147 million lower court verdict and freed a Chinese pharmaceutical maker from U.S. antitrust liability for price-fixing on the basis of international comity.

While the decision might have been a disappointment to many in the United States, it was hailed in China as a victorious ending to a 12-year-long litigation marathon. State-run news agency Xinhua said, quoting a local legal official in the northern Hebei province, that the case could set an example for other Chinese exporters facing similar antitrust allegations in the U.S. And DeHeng Law Offices, the Beijing-based law firm that served as Chinese counsel for defendants-appellants Hebei Welcome Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. and its parent, North China Pharmaceutical Group Corp., said in a statement that “this victory has the significance of a milestone to Chinese companies in their dealings with cross-border litigation.”

But that significance exists only in theory; in reality, the practical impact this case has on today's Chinese companies will be minimal.