Memory chipmaker Macronix International Co (旺宏電子) yesterday said it had filed petitions with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to challenge the validity of Spansion Inc’s patents.
The Taiwanese company, which supplies chips to Japanese video games console maker Nintendo Co, has petitioned the USPTO for an “interparties review,” according to a company statement.
The interparties review is a new type of proceeding that became available on Sept. 16 last year to challenge the validity of USPTO patents. The Hsinchu-based company’s latest move represents the continued litigation between the two companies.
In August, Spansion filed legal action against 14 companies, including Macronix, in the US for six patent violations. The Taiwanese company earlier last month responded with a patent infringement lawsuit in the US against the US chipmaker.
“The petitions provide the USPTO with information and/or evidence that the Spansion patents cover technology that was previously invented, published and/or obvious to others in the field, which was not disclosed in Spansion’s patent applications,” Macronix said in the statement.
The company said the petitions also provided specific examples and explanations showing that Spansion’s patents asserted against it are invalid. Therefore, Macronix said it had asked the USPTO to cancel all claims to each of the six patents.
Separtely, E Ink Holdings Inc (元太科技), which supplies e-paper displays for Amazon.com Inc’s Kindle e-reader series, said on Thursday that its South Korean subsidiary, Hydis Technologies Co, had inked a cross-licensing agreement for LCD products with Taiwan’s largest flat-panel maker, Innolux Corp (群創光電).
E Ink said in a stock exchange filing that the 10-year agreement, effective from July 1, allows the two sides to share their patents in the LCD business. In addition, the two sides will begin working more closely on bringing fringe field switching technology into new markets, E Ink said.
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
Taiwanese suppliers to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) are expected to follow the contract chipmaker’s step to invest in the US, but their relocation may be seven to eight years away, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. When asked by opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) in the legislature about growing concerns that TSMC’s huge investments in the US will prompt its suppliers to follow suit, Kuo said based on the chipmaker’s current limited production volume, it is unlikely to lead its supply chain to go there for now. “Unless TSMC completes its planned six
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said it plans to ship its new 1 megawatt charging systems for electric trucks and buses in the first half of next year at the earliest. The new charging piles, which deliver up to 1 megawatt of charging power, are designed for heavy-duty electric vehicles, and support a maximum current of 1,500 amperes and output of 1,250 volts, Delta said in a news release. “If everything goes smoothly, we could begin shipping those new charging systems as early as in the first half of next year,” a company official said. The new
RSS