On December 29, 2010, the U.S. International Trade Commission issued a press release announcing that it voted to institute an investigation of Certain Semiconductor Chips and Products Containing Same (Inv. No. 337-TA-753).

The investigation is based on a December 1, 2010 complaint filed by Rambus, Inc., of Sunnyvale, California alleging violation of Section 337 in the importation into the U.S. and sale of certain semiconductor chips and products containing same that infringe U.S. Patent Nos. 6,470,405; 6,591,353; 7,287,109; 7,602,857; 7,602,858; and 7,715,494.  See our December 6, 2010 post for more details.

According to the Notice of Investigation, the ITC has identified the following entities as respondents in this investigation:

• Freescale Semiconductor, Inc., of Austin, Texas;
• Broadcom Corporation of Irvine, California;
• LSI Corporation of Milpital, California;
• Mediatek, Inc., of Taiwan;
• nVidia Corporation of Santa Clara, California;
• STMicroelectronics N.V. of Switzerland;
• STMicroelecronics, Inc. of Carrollton, Texas;
• Asustek Computer Inc. of Taiwan;
• Asus Computer International Inc. of Fremont, California;
• Audio Partnership PLC of the United Kingdom;
• Biostar Microtech (U.S.A.) Corp. of City of Industry, California;
• Biostar Microtech International Corp. of Taiwan;
• Cisco Systems, Inc., of San Jose, California;
• Elitegroup Computer Systems of Taiwan;
• EVGA Corporation of Brea, California;
• Galaxy Micro Systems Ltd. of Hong Kong;
• Garmin International of Olathe, Kansas;
• G.B.T. Inc. of City of Industry, California;
• Giga-byte Technology Co., Ltd., of Taiwan;
• Gracom Technologies LLC of City of Industry, California;
• Hewlett-Packard Company of Palo Alto, California;
• Hitachi Global Storage Technologies of San Jose, California;
• Jaton Corporation of Fremont, California;
• Jaton Technology TPE of Taiwan;
• Micro-Star International Co., Ltd., of Taiwan;
• MSI Computer Corporation of City of Industry, California;
• Motorola, Inc., of Schaumburg, Illinois;
• Oppo Digital, Inc., of Mountain View, California;
• Palit Microsystems Ltd. of Taiwan;
• Pine Technology Holdings, Ltd., of Hong Kong;
• Seagate Technology of Scotts Valley, California;
• Sparkle Computer Co., Ltd., of Taiwan;
• Zotac International (MCO) Ltd. of Hong Kong; and
• Zotac USA Inc. of City of Industry, California

Further, Daniel L. Girdwood of the Office of Unfair Import Investigations is identified in the Notice of Investigation as the Investigative Attorney assigned to handle this investigation.

Lastly, Chief ALJ Paul J. Luckern issued a notice indicating that Theodore R. Essex will be the presiding Administrative Law Judge in this investigation.