22
Oct
By Eric Schweibenz and Michael West
On October 4, 2018, ALJ MaryJoan McNamara issued the public version of Order No. 15 (dated June 11, 2018) in Certain Mobile Electronic Devices and Radio Frequency and Processing Components Thereof (Inv. No. 337-TA-1093).

By way of background, this investigation is based on a November 30, 2017 complaint filed by Qualcomm Inc. of San Diego, California alleging violation of Section 337 by way of unlawful importation into the U.S., selling for importation, and/or selling within the U.S. after importation certain mobile electronic devices and radio frequency and processing components thereof that infringe one or more claims of U.S. Patent Nos. 9,154,356; 9,473,336; 8,063,674; 7,693,002; and 9,552,633. See our January 3, 2018 post for more details on the Notice of Investigation.

According to the Order, Respondent Apple filed a motion to compel Complainant to produce chip-level schematics and source code for: (1) its domestic industry products; and (2) domestic industry products related to U.S. Patent No. 8,063,674 (“the ’674 patent”) that Complainant withdrew from its domestic industry contentions on May 21, 2018. The Office of Unfair Import Investigations supported Apple’s motion. Complainant opposed the motion arguing that Apple’s motion is moot because Complainant already permitted inspection of all of the requested documents found through a “reasonable search.”

Accordingly, ALJ McNamara granted Apple’s motion to compel. ALJ McNamara cited Commission precedent generally finding that any relevant information to a claim or defense is discoverable. ALJ McNamara determined that the information Apple sought was relevant to its defenses, including information related to the ’674 patent’s domestic industry products that Complainant previously had withdrawn.