Enova Technology Corp (伊諾瓦), a maker of encryption solutions used in hard disks, filed a lawsuit in the US on Wednesday claiming Initio Corp (晶量半導體) and Western Digital Corp had infringed on two of its patents on data encryption.
Hsinchu-based Enova alleged that Western Digital’s sales of its My Book and My Passport brands of external storage devices in the US had infringed on its patents, while Initio had illegally made use of its chip controller patent, especially in a model known as INIC-1607E.
The two patents involve technology for encrypting or decrypting storage media, including disk drives, in a real-time manner without compromising overall system performance, Enova said in a court filing document posted on its Web site.
Enova Technology was founded in April 2000 and has invested significantly in these patent technologies, the company said. Enova founder Wann Shuning “pioneered the development of ground-breaking products, including the first real-time full disk encryption ASIC technology,” it said.
Initio and Western Digital “have ridden on the coattails of Enova’s significant investments in research and development by infringing [on] the patents,” the document stated.
Taipei-based Initio develops semiconductor products such as integrated circuit controllers and software and sells them to companies such as Western Digital, while Western Digital makes storage products for original equipment manufacturers, resellers or retailers.
An official at the office of the president of Initio said by telephone yesterday the company was not aware of the issue and offered no comments.
Robert Blair, a Western Digital spokesman, told Bloomberg it was looking at the complaint and had no comments, either.
Lake Forest, California-based Western Digital, which reported US$7.45 billion in sales for the last fiscal year, plans to spend US$4 billion in the next five years to expand in Asia, Bloomberg said.
Enova’s lawsuit followed in the footsteps of Richtek Technology Corp (立錡), a leading analog IC designer in Taiwan, which filed a patent infringement lawsuit with the US International Trade Commission last week against five companies — including the world’s No. 2 microprocessor maker Advanced Micro Devices Inc, Sapphire Technology Ltd (藍寶科技) in Hong Kong, US-based Diamond Multimedia Inc and XFX Technology Inc, as well as Taiwan’s uPI Semiconductor Corp (力智電子).
Richtek alleged these companies used its business secrets “inappropriately” and had infringed three of its patents.
Taiwan will prioritize the development of silicon photonics by taking advantage of its strength in the semiconductor industry to build another shield to protect the local economy, National Development Council (NDC) Minister Paul Liu (劉鏡清) said yesterday. Speaking at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee, Liu said Taiwan already has the artificial intelligence (AI) industry as a shield, after the semiconductor industry, to safeguard the country, and is looking at new unique fields to build more economic shields. While Taiwan will further strengthen its existing shields, over the longer term, the country is determined to focus on such potential segments as
UNCERTAINTY: Innolux activated a stringent supply chain management mechanism, as it did during the COVID-19 pandemic, to ensure optimal inventory levels for customers Flat-panel display makers AUO Corp (友達) and Innolux Corp (群創) yesterday said that about 12 to 20 percent of their display business is at risk of potential US tariffs and that they would relocate production or shipment destinations to mitigate the levies’ effects. US tariffs would have a direct impact of US$200 million on AUO’s revenue, company chairman Paul Peng (彭雙浪) told reporters on the sidelines of the Touch Taiwan trade show in Taipei yesterday. That would make up about 12 percent of the company’s overall revenue. To cope with the tariff uncertainty, AUO plans to allocate its production to manufacturing facilities in
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
RSS