There seems to be trouble brewing up at AMD and ATI Technologies ULC. The company has filed a complaint with the United States International Trade Commission against Realtek Semiconductor and TCL Industries Holdings. AMD’s complaint suggests that they have violated five different patents and demands a USITC investigation for the same.
According to Tomshardware, the USITC announced that it would investigate graphics systems, components thereof, and digital televisions with components from Taiwan-based Realtek and the China/Hong Kong-based TCL Industries Holdings.
The allegedly(according to AMD and ATI) patent-infringing products were brought into the US for sale. This brings them under the remit of the USITC.
What is the AMD Lawsuit about?
Firstly, on May 5, 2022, AMD and ATI filed a complaint seeking an exclusion order and a cease and desist order for the sale of the devices. However, the probe was disclosed by the USITC on July 1.
Mediatek and TCL Industries are accused of infringing on five patents covering various graphics technologies, according to AMD and ATI Technologies ULC of Canada, which AMD purchased in 2006.
Texture decompression techniques, a graphics processing architecture with a unified shader, and a multi-threaded graphics processing system are among the ATI patents (patents 7,742,053 claims 1-9, 8,760,454 claims 2-11, and 11,184,628 claims 7-12). A technique and system for synchronizing thread wavefront data and events;
as well as a processing unit that supports asynchronous task dispatch, are covered by AMD patents (patents 8,468,547 claims 16-21, and 8,854,381 claims 15-20). Lastly, Realtek and TCL Holdings are accused of violating section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930, according to AMD and ATI’s complaint.
The first step in the ‘Section 337 Investigation’ is for the USITC’s Chief Administrative Law Judge to appoint a presiding Administrative Law Judge over an evidentiary hearing to determine if Section 337 was violated. The USITC will set a deadline of 45 days for the investigation’s conclusion.
AMD and ATI previously triggered an investigation in 2017. The investigation revolved around patent infringements by companies like LG and Mediatek. Although LG made a settlement, AMD sued Mediatek for violating several patents.Â
