2022-12684. Certain Electronic Devices and Semiconductor Devices With Timing-Aware Dummy Fill and Components Thereof; Institution of Investigation

AGENCY:

U.S. International Trade Commission.

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

Notice is hereby given that a complaint was filed with the U.S. International Trade Commission on April 22, 2022, under section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, on behalf of Bell Semiconductor, LLC of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The complaint was supplemented on May 6, 2022, May 13, 2022, and May 19, 2022 (as revised on May 25, 2022). The complaint, as supplemented, alleges violations of section 337 based upon the importation into the United States, the sale for importation, and the sale within the United States after importation of certain electronic devices and semiconductor devices with timing-aware dummy fill and components thereof by reason of the infringement of certain claims of U.S. Patent No. 7,007,259 (“the '259 patent”). The complaint, as supplemented, further alleges that an industry in the United States exists as required by the applicable Federal Statute. The complainant requests that the Commission institute an investigation and, after the investigation, issue a limited exclusion order and cease and desist orders.

ADDRESSES:

The complaint, except for any confidential information contained therein, may be viewed on the Commission's electronic docket (EDIS) at https://edis.usitc.gov. For help accessing EDIS, please email [e-mail]. Hearing impaired individuals are advised that information on this matter can be obtained by contacting the Commission's TDD terminal on [phone]. Persons with mobility impairments who will need special assistance in gaining access to the Commission should contact the Office of the Secretary at [phone]. General information concerning the Commission may also be obtained by accessing its internet server at https://www.usitc.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Pathenia M. Proctor, The Office of Unfair Import Investigations, U.S. International Trade Commission, telephone [phone].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Authority: The authority for institution of this investigation is contained in section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, 19 U.S.C. 1337, and in section 210.10 of the Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure, 19 CFR 210.10 (2021). Scope of Investigation: Having considered the complaint, the U.S. International Trade Commission, on June 7, 2022, ordered that — (1) Pursuant to subsection (b) of section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, an investigation be instituted to determine whether there is a violation of subsection (a)(1)(B) of section 337 in the importation into the United States, the sale for importation, or the sale within the United States after importation of certain products identified in paragraph (2) by reason of infringement of one or more of claims 1-17 and 35-37 of the '259 patent, and whether an industry in the United States exists as required by subsection (a)(2) of section 337; (2) Pursuant to section 210.10(b)(1) of the Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure, 19 CFR 210.10(b)(1), the plain language description of the accused products or category of accused products, which defines the scope of the investigation, is “semiconductor devices, and specifically undiced wafers, diced wafers, packaged chips and chipsets both attached and unattached to printed circuit boards; and end products incorporating such articles, specifically cellular telephones and tablet computers, personal computers, graphics cards, memory modules, radios, LIDAR modules, and amplifiers”; (3) Pursuant to Commission Rule 210.50(b)(l), 19 CFR 210.50(b)(1), the presiding administrative law judge shall take evidence or other information and hear arguments from the parties or other interested persons with respect to the public interest in this investigation, as appropriate, and provide the Commission with findings of fact and a recommended determination on this issue, which shall be limited to the statutory public interest factors set forth in 19 U.S.C. l337(d)(l), (f)(1), (g)(1); (4) For the purpose of the investigation so instituted, the following are hereby named as parties upon which this notice of investigation shall be served: (a) The complainant is: Bell Semiconductor, LLC, One West Broad Street, Suite 901, Bethlehem, PA 18018, (b) The respondents are the following entities alleged to be in violation of section 337, and are the parties upon which the complaint is to be served:

NXP Semiconductors, N.V., 60 High Tech Campus, Eindhoven, Netherlands, 5656

NXP B.V., 60 High Tech Campus Eindhoven, Netherlands, 5656

NXP USA, Inc., 6501 William Cannon Drive West, Austin, TX 78735

SMC Networks, Inc. d/b/a/IgniteNet, 20 Mason, Irvine, CA 92618

Micron Technology, Inc., 8000 South Federal Way, Post Office Box 6, Boise, ID 83707

NVIDIA Corporation, 2788 San Tomas Expressway, Santa Clara, CA 95051

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., 2485 Augustine Drive, Santa Clara, CA 05054

Acer, Inc., 1F, 88, Sec. 1, Xintai 5th Rd. Xizhi, New Taipei City 221, Taiwan

Acer America Corporation, 333 West San Carlos Street, Suite 1500, San Jose, CA 95110

Infineon Technologies America Corp., 640 N McCarthy Blvd., Milpitas, CA 95035

Analog Devices Inc., 1 Technology Way, Norwood, MA 02062

Bose Corporation, 100 The Mountain Road, Framingham, MA 01701

Marvell Technology Group, Ltd., Canon's Court, 22 Victoria Street, Hamilton HM 12, Bermuda

Marvell Semiconductor, Inc., 5488 Marvell Lane, Santa Clara, CA 95054

Suteng Innovation Technology Co., Ltd. d/b/a RoboSense, RoboSense Building, Block 1, South of Zhongguan Hongjualing Industrial District, No. 1213 Liuxian Avenue, Taoyuan Street, Nanshan District, Shenzen 518023, China

Kioxia Corporation, 3-1-21, Shibaura, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-0023, Japan

Kioxia America, Inc., 2610 Orchard Pkwy., San Jose, CA 95134

Socionext Inc., Nomura Shin-Yokohama Bldg., 2-10-23 Shin-Yokohama, Kohoku-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa, 222-0033, Japan

Socionext America, Inc., 2811 Mission College Blvd., 5th floor, Santa Clara, CA 95054

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., 5775 Morehouse Drive, San Diego, CA 92121

Lenovo Group Ltd., No. 6 Chuang Ye Road, Shangdi Information Industry Base, Haidan District 100085, China

Motorola Mobility LLC, 222 W Merchandise Mart Plaza, Suite 1800, Chicago, IL 60654

(c) The Office of Unfair Import Investigations, U.S. International Trade Commission, 500 E Street SW, Suite 401, Washington, DC 20436; and

(5) For the investigation so instituted, the Chief Administrative Law Judge, U.S. International Trade Commission, shall designate the presiding Administrative Law Judge.

Responses to the complaint and the notice of investigation must be submitted by the named respondents in accordance with section 210.13 of the Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure, 19 CFR 210.13. Pursuant to 19 CFR 201.16(e) and 210.13(a), as amended in 85 FR 15798 (March 19, 2020), such responses will be considered by the Commission if received not later than 20 days after the date of service by the complainant of the complaint and the notice of investigation. Extensions of time for submitting responses to the complaint and the notice of investigation will not be granted unless good cause therefor is shown.

Failure of a respondent to file a timely response to each allegation in the complaint and in this notice may be deemed to constitute a waiver of the right to appear and contest the allegations of the complaint and this notice, and to authorize the administrative law judge and the Commission, without further notice to the respondent, to find the facts to be as alleged in the complaint and this notice and to enter an initial determination and a final determination containing such findings, and may result in the issuance of an exclusion order or a cease and desist order or both directed against the respondent.

By order of the Commission.

Issued: June 7, 2022.

Lisa Barton,

Secretary to the Commission.