28
Jul
On July 27, 2009, BTG International Inc. (“BTG”) of West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania filed a complaint requesting that the ITC commence an investigation pursuant to section 337.

The complaint alleges that the following proposed respondents (collectively, “Respondents”) unlawfully import into the U.S., sell for importation, and sell within the U.S. after importation certain MLC flash memory chips and products containing the same, which allegedly infringe BTG’s U.S. Patent Nos. 5,394,362, 5,764,571, 5,872,735, 6,104,640, and 6,118,692:

  • Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. of South Korea

  • Samsung Electronics America, Inc. of Ridgefield Park, New Jersey

  • Samsung Semiconductor, Inc. of San Jose, California

  • Samsung Telecommunications America, LLC of Richardson, Texas

  • Apple of Cupertino, California

  • ASUStek Computer Inc. of Taiwan

  • ASUS Computer International Inc. of Fremont, California

  • Dell of Round Rock, Texas

  • Lenovo of Hong Kong

  • Lenovo (United States) Inc. of Morrisville, North Carolina

  • PNY of Parsippany, New Jersey

  • Research in Motion, Ltd. of Canada

  • Research in Motion Corp. of Irving, Texas

  • Sony Corp. of Japan

  • Sony Electronics, Inc. of San Diego, California

  • Transcend of Taiwan


According to the complaint, the asserted patents relate to non-volatile programmable flash memory chips that are used in various consumer electronics devices.  In particular, the inventions “relate to methods and apparatuses for programming and reading Flash memory cells that store more than a single bit of information per cell.”

In the complaint, BTG alleges that Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., Samsung Electronics America, Inc. Samsung Semiconductor, Inc., and Samsung Telecommunications America, LLC (collectively “Samsung”) import, sell for importation, or sell after importation into the U.S. certain infringing flash memory chips (the “accused chips”), and that all Respondents import, sell for importation, or sell after importation into the U.S. products containing the accused chips.

BTG discloses in the complaint that on December 29, 2008, it filed a patent infringement suit against Samsung in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, alleging that Samsung infringes four of the five patents that are listed in the present section 337 complaint.  BTG states that the litigation is still pending and discovery has not commenced.

BTG further discloses in the complaint that on July 20, 2009, it filed another patent infringement suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, this time against all of the present Respondents other than Samsung, alleging infringement of all five patents that are listed in the present section 337 complaint.

Regarding potential remedy, BTG requests the Commission to issue a general exclusion order, or, in the alternative, a limited exclusion order, as well as a cease and desist order directed to all Respondents.