Exclusion order blocks power chip sales

Power Integrations has announced that the exclusion order issued by the International Trade Commission against System General Corp is now in force.

Power Integrations has announced that the exclusion order issued by the International Trade Commission (ITC) against System General Corp (SG) is now in force.

On 30th June 2006, the ITC accepted the determination that certain of SG's power-supply controllers infringe Power Integrations US Patents 6,351,398 and 6,538,908, and that SG is therefore in violation of section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930.

In August, the ITC determined to exclude certain products containing the infringing SG chips pending the review of the President.

The Presidential review period has expired and the exclusion order is now in effect.

The exclusion order prohibits the importation of SG's infringing products into the USA, as well as the importation of any LCD monitors and printer adapters containing the infringing parts.

The infringing parts covered by the order are the SG6840, SG6841, SG6841x3, SG6842, SG6842J and SG6843.

Power Integrations is proceeding with its patent-infringement lawsuit against SG in Federal District Court in San Francisco, originally filed in June 2004.

In that lawsuit, which had been stayed pending the final decision of the ITC, Power Integrations is seeking financial damages as well as an injunction against all SG products that infringe Power Integrations patents.

These include parts not subject to the ITC decision, such as the SG6848, SG6849 and other parts introduced more recently.

"Power Integrations respects the intellectual property of others, and we are intent on protecting our IP from unlawful copying by our competitors", said Balu Balakrishnan, President and CEO of Power Integrations.

"The district court case against SG will enable us to address additional infringing products not covered by the ITC decision, and to collect the damages that we are entitled to".

Earlier this month, a jury found that Fairchild Semiconductor wilfully infringed four Power Integrations patents, and set damages at approximately $34 million.

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