Macronix on the war path with Spansion and its customers
The company is pursuing a patent infringement law suit. Macronix is seeking an exclusion order as well as ceasing and desisting orders with regards to three patents involving non-volatile memory
Macronix International Co., Ltd.) and Macronix America, Inc., have filed a patent infringement law suit against Spansion, Inc., Spansion LLC, Spansion (Thailand) Ltd. and certain of their customers at the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC).
The law suit is for infringement of three Macronix patents covering separate aspects of non-volatile memory devices, including Flash memory.
The named defendants include, Beats Electronics LLC; Delphi Automotive PLC; Delphi Automotive Systems LLC; Harman International Industries, Inc.; Harman Becker Automotive Systems, Inc.; Harman Becker Automotive Systems GmbH; Ruckus Wireless, Inc.; and Tellabs, Inc.
Macronix has taken this step to address Spansion's "rampant" infringement of Macronix's patent rights and the infringement that arises when Spansion's customers import devices containing infringing Spansion's products, including Spansion Flash memory devices, into the United States.
Over the past 24 years, Macronix has invested heavily in the research and development of non-volatile memory technology. As a result of those investments, Macronix has been granted more than 5,000 patents world-wide and more than 2,000 in the United States. In a 2011 analysis conducted by The Patent Board, Macronix ranked 18th worldwide, and first in Taiwan for patent strength in the semiconductor industry.
The three Macronix patents in suit relate to non-volatile memory technology and products. In this action, Macronix requests ITC issues exclusion order to exclude Spansion's infringing products or products containing such components from further importation into the United States.
Macronix also requests ITC to issue general exclusion order to prevent other unidentified parties from importing into the United States their products that contain said infringing products.
In addition, Macronix is requesting that the ITC issue cease and desist orders prohibiting further commerce in the United States involving infringing Spansion memory devices.
Earlier this year, Macronix filed a separate seven-patent suit against Spansion in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. As demonstrated by the filing of this ITC litigation, Macronix intends to vigorously defend its valuable intellectual property rights.
