02
Jun
By John Presper

On June 1, 2022, the ITC issued a Notice of Investigation in Certain Graphic Systems, Components Thereof, and Digital Televisions Containing the Same (Inv. No. 337-TA-1318).

By way of background, this investigation is based on a May 2, 2022 complaint filed by Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. of Santa Clara, California and ATI Technologies ULC of Canada (collectively, “Complainants”) alleging violations of section 337 by Respondents TCL Industries Holdings Co., Ltd. of China; TCL Industries Holdings (H.K.) Limited of Hong Kong; TCL Electronics Holdings Limited f/k/a TCL Multimedia Technology Holdings, Ltd. of Hong Kong; TCL Technology Group Corporation of China; TTE Corporation of Hong Kong; TCL Holdings (BVI) Limited of Hong Kong; TCL King Electrical Appliances (Huizhou) Co. Ltd. of China; Shenzhen TCL New Technologies Co., Ltd. of China; TCL MOKA International Limited of Hong Kong; TCL Smart Device (Vietnam) Co., Ltd. of Vietnam; Manufacturas Avanzadas SA de CV of Mexico; TCL Electronics Mexico, S de RL de CV of Mexico; TCL Overseas Marketing Ltd. of Hong Kong; and Realtek Semiconductor Corp. of Taiwan (collectively, “Respondents”) in the unlawful importation/sale of certain barcode scanners, scan engines, mobile computers with barcode scanning functionalities, products containing the same, and components thereof by reason of the infringement of certain graphics systems, components thereof, and digital televisions containing the same by reason of the infringement of certain claims of U.S. Patent No. 7,742,053 (“the ’053 patent”), U.S. Patent No. 8,760,454 (“the ’454 patent”), U.S. Patent No. 11,184,628 (“the ’628 patent”), U.S. Patent No. 8,468,547 (“the ’547 patent”), and U.S. Patent No. 8,854,381 (“the ’381 patent”).

According to the complaint, the asserted patents generally relate to novel architectures for graphics processing unit circuitry.  Specifically, the ’053 patent is directed to a novel multi-threaded graphics processing system, including an arbiter for selecting between stored vertex and pixel command threads; the ’454 patent is directed to novel “unified shader” hardware architecture; the ’628 patent is directed to novel texture decompression hardware; the ’547 patent is directed to systems and methods for synchronizing thread wavefronts; and the ’381 patent is directed to enabling asynchronous task dispatch.  The accused products are integrated circuits that incorporate one or more graphics processing units (GPUs), printed circuit board assemblies containing the same, and digital televisions containing the same.  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 he will preside in the investigation.