Intellectual Ventures Files New 337 Complaint Regarding Certain Dynamic Random Access Memory And NAND Flash Memory Devices
On July 12, 2011, Intellectual Ventures Management, LLC, Invention Investment Fund I, L.P., Invention Investment Fund II, LLC, Intellectual Ventures I LLC, and Intellectual Ventures II LLC (collectively, “Intellectual Ventures”), all of Bellevue, Washington, filed a complaint requesting that the ITC commence an investigation pursuant to Section 337.
The complaint alleges that the following entities (collectively, the “Proposed Respondents”) unlawfully import into the U.S., sell for importation, and/or sell within the U.S. after importation certain dynamic random access memory (“DRAM”) and NAND Flash memory devices and products containing such DRAM and/or NAND Flash memory devices that infringe one or more claims of U.S. Patent Nos. 5,654,932 (the ‘932 patent), 5,963,481 (the ‘481 patent), 5,982,696 (the ‘696 patent), 5,500,819 (the ‘819 patent) and 5,687,132 (the ‘132 patent) (collectively, the “asserted patents”):
- Hynix Semiconductor Inc. of South Korea
- Hynix Semiconductor America, Inc. of San Jose, California
- Elpida Memory, Inc. of Japan
- Elpida Memory (USA) Inc. of Sunnyvale, California
- Acer Inc. of Taiwan
- Acer America Corp. of San Jose, California
- ADATA Technology Co., Ltd. of Taiwan
- ADATA Technology (U.S.A.) Co., Ltd. of Hacienda Heights, California
- Asustek Computer Inc. of Taiwan
- Asus Computer International Inc. of Fremont, California
- Dell, Inc. of Round Rock, Texas
- Hewlett-Packard Company of Palo Alto, California
- Kingston Technology Co., Inc. of Fountain Valley, California
- Logitech International S.A. of Switzerland
- Logitech, Inc. of Fremont, California
- Pantech Co., Ltd. of South Korea
- Pantech Wireless, Inc. of Atlanta, Georgia
- Best Buy Co., Inc. of Richfield, Minnesota
- Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. of Bentonville, Arkansas
According to the complaint, the asserted patents generally relate to DRAM and NAND Flash memory technology. In particular, the ‘932 patent relates to burst access with on-the-fly bit count variation and accessing groups of columns in a DRAM memory array using different access types during a single row address strobe (RAS) cycle. The ‘481 patent relates to DRAM bank interleaving and a multi-row memory on a single substrate that accepts an access request to one row before an access request to another row has been completed. The ‘696 patent relates to a DRAM mode register and a programmable volatile storage in a system with a hardwired address decoder and an external address bus. The ‘819 patent relates to data moving and copying functionality in connection with NAND Flash memory. Lastly, the ‘132 patent relates to NAND Flash copy back functionality, which facilitates wear leveling.
In the complaint, Intellectual Ventures states that the Proposed Respondents import and sell products that infringe the asserted patents. The complaint specifically identifies a number of allegedly infringing DRAM and NAND Flash memory devices manufactured and sold by Hynix Semiconductor Inc. and Hynix Semiconductor America, Inc. (collectively, “Hynex”) and Elpida Memory, Inc. and Elpida Memory (USA) Inc. (collectively, “Elpida”). According to the complaint, the remaining Proposed Respondents import and sell products that contain DRAM and/or NAND Flash memory devices manufactured by Hynix and/or Elpida.
Regarding domestic industry, Intellectual Ventures states that it has made substantial investments in the U.S. in the exploitation of the asserted patents, including through licensing, and that this constitutes a domestic industry under 19 U.S.C. § 1337(a)(3)(C). In particular, Intellectual Ventures states it has engaged in the acquisition of patents, the grouping of patents into desirable packages, research into the relevant product markets, investigation of potential licensees, reverse engineering of potentially infringing products, preparation of technical claim charts, active efforts to negotiate licenses, including preparation for and travel to meetings with potential licensees, and preparation for litigation for the purpose of licensing. Intellectual Ventures further states that approximately 350 dedicated service providers resident in its U.S. offices are engaged in licensing efforts on a fulltime basis. Intellectual Ventures also refers to the significant U.S. activities of Micron Technology, Inc. — a licensee of all five of the asserted patents.
As to related litigation, Intellectual Ventures states that the asserted patents are the subject of a civil action in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington that was filed by Intellectual Ventures I LLC and Intellectual Ventures II LLC against the Proposed Respondents on July 11, 2011.
With respect to potential remedy, Intellectual Ventures requests that the Commission issue a permanent general exclusion order, a permanent limited exclusion order, and a permanent cease and desist order directed at the Proposed Respondents.
