Power Integrations Announces Enforcement Of ITC Order Against LCD Monitor Vendor
Power Integrations announced that the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has issued a seizure and forfeiture order against Envision Peripherals Inc., a Fremont, California-based vendor of LCD monitors. The order was issued after the U.S. Customs Service stopped an attempt by Envision to import LCD monitors subject to an exclusion order issued by the ITC in August 2006.
The exclusion order prohibits the importation into the U.S. of certain power-supply controller chips manufactured by System General Corp. (now a subsidiary of Fairchild Semiconductor) and downstream products incorporating such controller chips. The excluded controller chips were found to infringe two Power Integrations patents, U.S. Patent Nos. 6,351,398 and 6,538,908, in violation of section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930.
The seizure and forfeiture order issued by the ITC instructs the Customs Service that any further products imported by Envision that are found to contain the infringing power-supply controller chips shall be seized by Customs and forfeited to the United States. It is Power Integrations’ understanding that any such products would be destroyed by Customs.
"We are gratified that U.S. Customs has diligently enforced the ITC exclusion order by intercepting infringing products coming into the U.S. market," said Clifford Walker, Vice President of Corporate Development for Power Integrations. "Our patents and intellectual property are important assets, the rights to which have been upheld repeatedly in actions before the ITC and the courts. We trust that the example of this enforcement action will deter other potential infringers in the future."
