Tessera Patent Claims To Be Reviewed

The China Post - 07/01/08

WASHINGTON -- A U.S. trade agency will investigate a patent-infringement complaint against more than a dozen companies by Tessera Technologies Inc., the maker of chip-packaging technology for companies including Intel Corp.

The U.S. International Trade Commission said it will review the complaint against Nanya Technology Corp., Elpida Memory Inc., Acer Inc. and others. The agency, located in Washington, typically completes investigations within 15 months and can block imports of products found to infringe on U.S. patents.

Tessera accused the companies of violating four patents related to semiconductor packages that protect chips from damage, stress and contamination. The San Jose, California-based company filed a similar lawsuit against the companies last month in federal court in Texas.

Tessera contends its inventions allow chips to be made smaller for electronic equipment such as medical devices and military components. It filed a suit against companies that refuse to license the patents. Royalty and licensing fees accounted for US$113.4 million, or 80 percent, of the company's revenue in the first nine months of 2007.

The companies that were sued, which also include ProMos Technologies Inc. and Powerchip Semiconductor Corp., are mostly based in Taiwan and Japan. Officials at the U.S. offices of Elpida, Nanya, Acer and ProMos didn't immediately return telephone messages seeking comment.

Tessera fell US$1.07 to US$38.04 on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The shares have declined 5.4 percent over the last year.

The case is Certain Semiconductor Chips with Minimized Chip Package Size and Products Containing Same, 337-630, U.S. International Trade Commission. The civil case is Tessera Inc. v. A-Data Technology Co., 07cv534, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas (Marshall).
To review the disputed patents through the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's Web site, search for patent numbers 5,679,977; 6,133,627; 5,663,106; and 6,458,681 at http://www.uspto.gov/patft/index.html.