Sandisk
The U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington said yesterday it will review part of an ITC judges findings that SanDisk lost in April. SanDisk had originally claimed 25 companies infringed its patents, including LG Electronics Inc. and Imation Corp.
In a notice posted on its Web site, the agency said it would review the judges interpretation of key claims in one of the SanDisk patents. A finding of violation could result in a ban of imports of any products that infringe the SanDisk patent.
SanDisk “is hopeful the company will prevail in the commissions substantive review,” said Ryan Donovan, a spokesman for the Milpitas, California-based company. “We continue to believe in the value of our intellectual property and will vigorously defend it against infringement.”
Flash-memory chips are used to store data in digital cameras, cell phones and MP3 players. SanDisk had originally claimed 50 companies and subsidiaries violated its patents and refused to pay licensing fees. The company received $191.5 million in licensing and royalty fees in the first six months of the year, or 14 percent of its total revenue, SanDisk said July 22.
21 Terminated
Of the original group named in the complaint, 21 were terminated from the investigation because of settlements, consent orders and withdrawals and five defaulted, according to the ITC notice. John Taylor, a spokesman for LG, had no comment; officials with Imation didnt immediately return a message seeking comment.
The complaint targets flash drives, memory cards, USB drives and media players made by the companies.
Others still in the case include Phison Electronics Corp. of Hsinchu, Taiwan; Silicon Motion Technology Corp. of Hsinchu; Skymedi Corp. of Hsinchu; Power Quotient International Co. of Taipei, Taiwan; Syscom Development Co. of the British Virgin Islands; Kingston Technology Corp. of Fountain Valley, California; Transcend Information Inc. of Taipei; Apacer Technology Inc. of Taipei and Dane-Elec Memory of Bagnolet, France.
The case is In the Matter of Certain Flash Memory Controllers, Drives, Memory Cards and Media Players and Products Containing Same, 337-619, U.S. International Trade Commission (Washington).