Japan to block some Nanya DRAM chips after Fujitsu complaint
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Japan will block imports of some memory chips produced by Taiwan&#39;s Nanya Technology after local chip-maker Fujitsu lodged a request with the country&#39;s customs authorities.In August last year Fujitsu won a patent infringement case against Nanya at the Tokyo District Court. The lawsuit concerned a patent related to a technology for improving the speed of DDR SDRAM (double data rate synchronous dynamic RAM) memory chips, and the court case came about after discussions between the companies broke down.A day after winning the case,&#160;Fujitsu filed with Japan Customs to block import of the DRAM chips&#160;in question. DRAM is used as the main memory inside personal computers and some consumer electronics products.With Fujitsu&#39;s request to suspend imports granted, the government will begin inspections of Nanya DRAM chips coming into Japan, Fujitsu said Thursday. If the chips are judged to include the technology that was the subject of the August court case, the chips will be blocked from entry, Fujitsu said.Nanya Technology could not immediately be reached for comment.&#160;
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Global computer memory chip  makers including Samsung Electronics Co. and Micron Technology  Inc. were sued on Thursday by New York Attorney General Eliot  Spitzer for allegedly conspiring to raise memory chip prices.
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A federal agency on Thursday barred the import of new models of cell phones that contain semiconductors made by Qualcomm Inc., because the chips violate a patent held by a rival, Broadcom Corp.
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In the latest squabble over patents between Japanese and South Korean electronics giants, Toshiba has sued Hynix Semiconductor's Japan and U.S. units, alleging patent infringement in flash-memory chips, key components in digital cameras and cell phones.
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Toshiba is taking action to protect its patents. The Japan-based company has accused Hynix Semiconductor of violating seven patents in the United States, including ones for DRAM, and three flash-memory patents in Japan.
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SanDisk&#160;is suing 25 companies, including South Korean giant LG Electronics for allegedly infringing patents used in removable flash storage products including MP3 players and USB flash drives.The Milpitas, California, chip maker has also filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), asking to have defendants in the court cases barred from importing products into the U.S.The company filed two lawsuits in the U.S. District Court in the Western District of Wisconsin, one alleging the infringement of five patents in the ITC complaint, and another one including two additional patents not involved in the ITC action.The court and ITC complaints could affect the prices and availability of products made by companies targeted in the suit if SanDisk wins and the companies are barred from importing products into the U.S.The suit also covers makers of CompactFlash cards, multimedia cards, and other removable flash storage products used in digital cameras, mobile phones, and other gadgets, and includes companies from around the world, such as Japan&#39;s Buffalo, Acer affiliate Apacer Technology&#160;of Taiwan, and Kingston Technology&#160;of California.
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Apple Computer has been ordered by the Japanese government to investigate its products after reports that at least one of the company's laptops has caught fire as a result of defective batteries from its partner Sony.
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(InfoWorld) - Fujitsu will purchase two chip plants in Japan from Spansion Japan, a flash memory chip maker in which it holds a stake, the companies said Thursday. Fujitsu will pay Â¥17 billion ($145 million) to buy Spansion's JV1 and JV2 factories, which are in the city of Aizu-Wakamatsu in northeast Japan, where Fujitsu already operates its own chip factory. Fujitsu will use the plants to produce flash memory embedded microcontrollers, it said. Such chips are used in automotive and consumer electronics applications, and Fujitsu said it expects the market for the devices to grow. The company will also keep producing some flash memory chips at the factories for the time being, it said. SpansionÂ began life as a joint venture companyÂ between Fujitsu and Advanced Micro Devices, before listing its stock on the Nasdaq stock market in the U.S. late last year. ItÂ raised about $506 millionÂ in the public offering, which reduced Fujitsu and AMD's shareholdings to minority status.
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Top-end 533MHz FSB part appears in Tokyo shops
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TOKYO/SHANGHAI  - Troubled Japanese electronics maker Sanyo Electric Co.  said on Friday it would shoulder with China's Lenovo Group  the cost of recalling 205,000 Sanyo-made laptop battery packs that can overheat.
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The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) has launched four investigations involving the import of computers or electronic device components, including one based on a complaint that several companies are violating patents on DRAM chips.The USITC also voted to launch an investigation, based on a complaint by IBM, into the import of motherboards, graphics cards, notebook computers, server computers, bare-bones computers, and routers by Asustek Computer of Taiwan and Asus Computer International of Fremont, Calif.In the DRAM case, Tessera of San Jose, Calif., filed a complaint on Dec. 7 alleging that 18 companies violated its patents for semiconductor chips with a minimized chip package size. Acer and Kingston Technology are among the companies named in Tessera&#39;s complaint.The commission on Friday also announced it has initiated so-called 337 investigations into the import of silicon microphone packages used in mobile phones and semiconductor lasers used in disc drives.In the Tessera complaint, the company accused competitors of violating four semiconductor patents. The company has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, as well as the USITC complaint. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has granted reexamination requests on two of those patents.Representatives of Acer and Kingston didn&#39;t immediately respond to a request for comments on the USITC investigation.IBM filed a complaint on Dec. 5, asking the USITC to bar Asustek and North American subsidiary Asus Computer International from importing equipment using PC power supplies, cooling fans, and clustering technologies into the United States. IBM accused Asustek of infringing three patents related to those technologies.IBM attempted to reach a licensing agreement with Asustek after a licensing deal expired in December 2004, an IBM spokesman said in December. An Asus spokeswoman didn&#39;t immediately respond to a request for comments.The semiconductor laser complaint covers lasers used in high-definition disc drives. The investigation is based on a complaint filed by Seoul Semiconductor of Korea on Dec. 4, alleging that Nichhia of Japan has violated its patent.In the silicon microphone case, the patented technology covers microphones in several devices, including mobile phones. The complaint, filed by Knowles Electronics of Itasca, Ill., on Dec. 6, alleges that Mems Technology Berhad of Malaysia has violated its patents.The cases will be referred to an administrative law judge, who will schedule and hold an evidentiary hearing. The judge will make an initial determination as to whether there is a violation of Section 337 of the U.S. Tariff Act of 1930. That initial determination is subject to review by the USITC.Within 45 days, the commission will set a target date for completing the investigations.
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Japanese electronics giant Toshiba said it is taking legal action against major South Korean microchip maker Hynix in Tokyo and Texas for alleged infringement of Toshiba's semiconductor memory patents.
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In the latest squabble over patents between Japanese and South Korean electronics giants, Toshiba has sued Hynix Semiconductor&#39;s Japan and US units, alleging patent infringement in flash-memory
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Fujitsu will purchase two chip plants in Japan from Spansion Japan, a flash memory chip maker in which it holds a stake, the companies said Thursday.ADVERTISEMENTMAKE SOA REAL WITH IBM WEBSPHERE PODCASTStreamline processes and maximize efficiency within a proven service oriented architecture. Take back control of your business processes with IBM WebSphere.
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Japanese DRAM (dynamic RAM) maker Elpida Memory and Taiwanese contract chip maker United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) plan to work together to develop phase-change memory chip products, including PRAM (phase-change RAM), joining a&#160;growing chorus of chip makers&#160;using the technology.The two companies will also work together on advanced DRAM production technology, they said in a statement late Monday.PRAM is a speedy memory chip able to retain data even when power is shut off, similar to flash memory. The chips can rewrite data 30 times faster than conventional flash memory and are expected to have at least 10 times the life span. Several companies have formed joint development ventures around PRAM, and say&#160;the chips could replace several used in gadgets today, including DRAM, NAND flash, NOR flash, and SRAM (static RAM).Elpida and UMC pledged to use their expertise in materials and high-performance manufacturing technology, respectively, to cooperate in PRAM technology development. They did not offer a time frame for when they may have PRAM products ready.So far, two companies have announced phase-change memory products that could be out within the next year. Samsung Electronics, the world&#39;s largest memory chip maker, last year unveiled a working prototype of a 512Mb chip, and expects to have the chips available in early 2008.Intel&#160;and STMicroelectronics are developing phase-change memory at their joint NOR flash venture, Numonyx.&#160;Intel demonstrated a working prototype PRAM chip&#160;earlier this year at its developer forum in Beijing.Another major group of companies,&#160;IBM, Qimonda, and Macronix International, showed off a prototype PRAM chip that runs 500 times faster than flash memory while using half as much power to write data to a memory cell late last year. The chips would be useful in small devices where battery life is a worry for users, but production technology required for the fine circuitry of the prototype chip might not be around until 2015.So far this month, two groups have made announcements surrounding phase-change memory.South Korea&#39;s Hynix Semiconductorsigned a long-term licensing agreement with phase-change memory technology developer Ovonyx, and Taiwan&#39;s Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), in partnership with six Taiwanese chip makers, believe they could have a PRAM product ready within three years.&#160;
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(InfoWorld) - South Korean memory chip giant Hynix SemiconductorÂ on Wednesday denied local media reports that it planned to move its operations to China. A problem finding land in South Korea for a new factory to make chips on 12-inch (300 millimeter) wafers apparently turned into speculation that the company, frustrated, would simply move to China, where it already operates a joint venture chip factory. A South Korean newspaper cited local politicians saying Hynix would make the move. But the DRAM (dynamic RAM) maker says it's not going anywhere, and the rumor had been blown so far out of proportion that it put out a statement to clarify the issue. "There were some local news reports that we're planning to move our operation to China. ... Hynix is not reviewing that option," said Kim Mi-Young, a Hynix representative. The company started looking for a new site for the planned factory after South Korea's environmental protection agency turned down a request to build it near its Ichon complex in Kyonggi Province, for fear it might contaminate a nearby river. Hynix considered another location, Chongju, where it already owns a piece of land, but ran into further trouble. Its land there is too small for the planned facility, and the constant press coverage over the environmental issue caused landowners in Chongju to speculate Hynix might come calling, and raise their prices accordingly. Now, the company says Chongju is too expensive. It still does not know where it might build the new factory.
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(InfoWorld) - A day after winning a patent infringement lawsuit against a Taiwanese memory chip maker Japan's Fujitsu Ltd. has filed to have the chips in question barred from Japan. TheÂ Tokyo District Court Thursday upheld Fujitsu claims that DRAM (dynamic RAM) memory chips made by Nanya Technology Corp. infringed upon patents held by Fujitsu. The court granted an injunction against future import and sales of the chips. Fujitsu said Friday it had filed an application with Japan's customs authority to suspend import of the DRAM chips under the country's customs law. The lawsuit concerned a patent related to a technology for improving the speed of DDR SDRAM (double data rate synchronous dynamic RAM) memory chips and was filed just over two years ago after talks between the two companies produced no agreement on patent licensing. "We've been in IP discussions [with Fujitsu] for a while. It's regretful that we have not reached an agreement yet," said Pai Pei-lin, vice president of sales at Nanya Technology Corp. The case with Fujitsu probably won't have much impact on Nanya in the near term, he said, because it's been going on for a while and the company has already made contingency plans. Nanya will most likely appeal the decision, but company lawyers will have to take a close look at the ruling before making such a decision, he said. Nanya is fighting a similar case with Fujitsu in the U.S., but the proceedings there look more favorable for Nanya than the Japan ruling, he added. Â