ITC investigates US Flash market

The US International Trade Commission (ITC) is to investigate the Flash memory market in North America following a complaint by SanDisk.

The ITC has named 47 companies whose products will be looked at as part of the investigation, including Acer, Imation, Kingston Technology, LG Electronics and Memorex.

SanDisk informed the ITC on 24 October that it believed Flash products which infringe its patents were being imported into the US, violating section 337 of the US Tariff Act of 1930.

"The products at issue in this investigation are semiconductor chips which manage the operation of Flash memories used in products such as memory cards and media players," an official ITC statement said.

SanDisk has requested a permanent exclusion order and a permanent cease-and-desist order for any company found breaching its patents.

Charles E Bullock, an ITC administrative law judge, will hold an initial evidentiary hearing.

His initial findings into whether a violation of section 337 has taken place are subject to review by the ITC.

SanDisk has previously filed three patent infringement actions in the US against 25 companies that manufacture, sell and import memory.