Rambus Complaint Against Broadcom, Nvidia to be Reviewed by ITC

The U.S. International Trade Commission said it began a review of patent-infringement claims filed by computer-memory chip designer Rambus Inc. against more than 24 companies including Broadcom Corp. and Nvidia Corp.

The complaint, which the Washington-based ITC said today on its website would be investigated, may result in an import ban on chips found to infringe any of six Rambus patents. Also named in the Dec. 1 complaint are MediaTek Inc., STMicroelectronics NV, Freescale Semiconductor Inc., Asustek Computer Inc., Cisco Systems Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co. and Seagate Technology Plc.

Rambus has sought to boost royalties from its designs by extending the reach of patent enforcement beyond personal computers, where the Sunnyvale, California-based company has typically sought legal headway, to communications devices and electronics. Rambus, which gets most of its sales from royalties, has spent the past decade suing companies that refused to license its patents.

The company filed civil lawsuits making the same infringement allegations as those in the Dec. 1 ITC case.

The case is In the Matter of Certain Semiconductor Chips and Products Containing Same, 337-753, U.S. International Trade Commission (Washington).

To contact the reporter on this story: Susan Decker in Washington at sdecker1@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Allan Holmes at aholmes25@bloomberg.net.