On August 24, 2009, the U.S. International Trade Commission issued a press release announcing that it voted to institute an investigation of Certain MLC Flash Memory Devices and Products Containing Same (Inv. No. 337-TA-683).

The investigation is based on a July 27, 2009 complaint filed by BTG International Inc. (“BTG”) of West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania.  As we explained in our July 28 post, the complaint alleges violation of Section 337 in the importation into the U.S. and sale of 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.

The Commission has identified the following as respondents in this investigation:

• 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, Inc. of Cupertino, California


• ASUStek Computer, Inc. of Taiwan


• ASUS Computer International of Fremont, California


• Dell, Inc. of Round Rock, Texas


• Lenovo Group Limited of Hong Kong


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


• PNY Technologies, Inc. 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 Information, Inc. of Taiwan

On August 24, 2009, Chief ALJ Paul J. Luckern issued a notice indicating that ALJ Theodore R. Essex will handle this investigation.

Also, according to the Notice of Investigation, Steven R. Smith of the Office of Unfair Import Investigations is the Investigative Attorney assigned to handle this investigation.