Probe into patent infringement claim against AMD

SAN FRANSICO: The United States International Trade Commission (ITC) has launched an investigation into patent infringement claims filed by Richtek Technology Corporation, the analog chip vendor based in Hsinchu, Taiwan, against Advanced Micro Devices Incorporated (AMD) and other companies.

Richtek Technology Corporation has, apart from AMD, filed patent infringement complaints against Sapphire Technology Limited (Hong Kong), Diamond Multimedia Incorporated (California, the United States), XFX Technology Incorporated (Ontario, California, the United States), and uPI Semiconductor Corporation (Taiwan).

According to the US regulatory agency, Richtek Technology Corporation has complained of violations of section 337 of the United States Tariff Act of 1930 in the importation and sale of some DC-DC controllers and also products containing them.

Richtek Technology has requested the United States International Trade Commission to issue an ‘exclusion order’ as well as a ‘cease and desist order.’

According to a statement, the International Trade Commission said it will complete the investigation into the complaints filed by Richtek Technology Corporation within 45 days.

The ITC also said it has decided to investigate a patent infringement claim relating to surface-mount MEMS, filed by Analog Devices Incorporated, based in Norwood, Massachusetts, the United States, against Mouser Electronics Incorporated (Mansfield, Texas, US), and Knowles Electronics LLC (Itasca, Illinois, US).