The U.S. International Trade Commission intends to launch an investigation into Samsung and TSMC related to the alleged violation by companies of patent rights related to chips and mobile devices based on them.
U.S.I.C. reported that the agency was initiating an investigation following a complaint filed in September by New York's Daedalus Prime LLC, a possible violation of section 337 of the 1930 Tariff Act, which was adopted at the time to protect U.S. businesses from foreign competitors, including the violation of patent rights.
The complaint is said to relate to chips produced by Samsung in accordance with 14 nm and more modern processes, as well as chips produced by TSMC on 16 nm technology or less. The investigation will also involve smartphones, tablets and smart hours using such semiconductors. In other words, there may be a huge array of modern electronics. In fact, the claim seeks to block the import and sale of all products related to the infringement of the patent rights specified in the complaint. According to available information, a separate complaint is filed by the same company against Qualcomm.
According to the media, Daedalus Prime is a classic patent troll that owns a number of rights to products or processes without the intention of producing or implementing them. Such companies earn a license for technology acquired by them in various ways or in lawsuits. This is the Intel technology that Daedalus Prime acquired earlier this year.
It appears that only a few of the investigations initiated by USITC on the initiative of Daedalus Prime are still under consideration. It is assumed that the company intends to force techno-businesses to pay for the use of technologies patented by Intel, otherwise they face a ban on the import of electronics in the United States. However, while USITC has not yet taken any decisions related to these complaints, the Department intends to review the materials and evidence and establish the very violation of section 377 in accordance with the law.
Meanwhile, a few months ago Intel announced the availability of another batch of about 5,000 of its patents, which is about technologies that have not yet expired but which are no longer advanced, but are still capable of generating some revenue for Intel.