11
Mar
By John Presper

On March 7, 2022, the ITC issued a Notice of Investigation in Certain Barcode Scanners, Mobile Computers With Barcode Scanning Capabilities, Scan Engines, RFID Printers, Components Thereof, and Products Containing the Same (Inv. No. 337-TA-1306).

By way of background, this investigation is based on a February 4, 2022 complaint filed by Zebra Technologies Corporation of Lincolnshire, Illinois and Symbol Technologies, LLC of Holtsville, New York (collectively, “Complainants”) alleging violations of section 337 by Respondents Honeywell International Inc. and Hand Held Products, Inc., both of Charlotte, North Caroline (collectively, “Respondents”) in the unlawful importation/sale of certain barcode scanners, mobile computers with barcode scanning capabilities, scan engines, RFID printers, components thereof, and products containing the same by reason of infringement of certain claims of U.S. Patent No. 7,498,942 (“the ’942 patent”); U.S. Patent No. 8,411,177 (“the ’177 patent”); and U.S. Patent No. 10,667,219 (“the ’219 patent”).

According to the complaint, the ’942 patent generally relates to a printer controller system for controlling printing on media (e.g., a strip of labels) supporting a series of RFID transponders and for communicating detection of void RFID transponders to downstream devices; the ’177 patent generally relates to a method and apparatus for providing current pulses to an illumination source in an imaging scanner; and the ’219 patent generally relates to a power management technique for a mobile device to detect if a removable power source has been removed from the mobile device and maintaining the application state for a certain time period until the battery is replaced in the mobile device.  The accused products are barcode scan engines and scanners (handheld and stationary scanners), mobile computers with barcode scanning capabilities (handheld, tablet, and wearable computers), RFID printers (printers with RFID encoding capabilities), and components thereof (circuit boards with barcode scanning, RFID encoding or RFID decoding capabilities).  Complainants are requesting that the Commission issue a limited exclusion order and cease-and-desist order against Respondents.  According to the Notice of Investigation, the Office of Unfair Import Investigations will not participate as a party in the investigation.  Lastly, Chief ALJ Clark S. Cheney issued a notice indicating that ALJ MaryJoan McNamara will preside in the investigation.