PORTSMOUTH, N.H., Feb. 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Innovative Foundry Technologies LLC (IFT) announced today that it has filed a complaint in the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) against Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited, Qualcomm Incorporated, MediaTek, Inc., VIZIO, Inc., TCL Corporation, Hisense Electric Co., Ltd., BBK Communication Technology Co., Ltd. and certain of their affiliates.  The complaint alleges the unlawful and unauthorized sale for importation into the United States, and/or sale within the United States after importation, of certain semiconductor devices, integrated circuits and products containing the same that infringe, or were manufactured abroad using processes that infringe, certain of IFT's semiconductor fabrication and packaging patents.

The respondents are accused of infringing:

• US Patent No. 6,583,012, "Semiconductor Devices Utilizing Differently Composed Metal-Based In-Laid Gate Electrodes"
• US Patent No. 6,797,572, "Method For Forming a Field Effect Transistor Having a High-K Gate Dielectric and Related Structure"
• US Patent No. 7,009,226, "In-Situ Nitride/Oxynitride Processing With Reduced Deposition Surface Pattern Sensitivity"
• US Patent No. 7,880,236, "Semiconductor Circuit Including a Long Channel Device and a Short Channel Device"
• US Patent No. 9,373,548, "CMOS Circuit Having a Tensile Stress Layer Overlying an NMOS Transistor and Overlapping a Portion of Compressive Stress Layer"

(Certain respondents are accused of infringing a subset of the above-listed patents.)

These patents are foundational to designing and manufacturing highly efficient semiconductor devices at extremely small geometries, in a cost effective and efficient manner.  American semiconductor giants, including GlobalFoundries, Intel and Samsung Austin Semiconductor have already taken a license, or are otherwise authorized, to practice the technology claimed by the asserted patents.

"The ITC investigation, if instituted, will help level the playing field by addressing the unfair acts of companies that are in the business of importing foreign-manufactured goods that exploit the patented semiconductor technology without a license," noted Warren Hurwitz, IFT's President and CEO.  Hurwitz continued, "On the heels of the infringement complaints IFT recently filed in China and Germany, the ITC complaint represents the next step in our efforts to broadly license our patent portfolio.  We are confident that the portfolio is strong and contains many patents that are essential to the design and manufacture of the chips relied on today in Smart devices, infotainment systems and other high-demand products. We hope that parties not included in these lawsuits will recognize the breadth and strength of the portfolio, and will engage in discussions with us about licensing opportunities, before being involved in future litigation."

IFT has retained the law firm of Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky & Popeo, P.C. (Boston, Massachusetts; www.mintz.com) to represent it in this ITC matter.

ABOUT INNOVATIVE FOUNDRY TECHNOLOGIES LLC.

Established in 2017, IFT actively engages in the acquisition, development, licensing and protection of its intellectual property related to semiconductor fabrication and packaging technologies.  At present, IFT owns over 125 US and foreign patents and patent applications acquired from a pioneer in the semiconductor industry, Advanced Micro Devices.   This portfolio covers several key aspects of semiconductor design and manufacture, which enable leaders in the automotive, networking, Smart device and other industries to continue to deploy smaller, more powerful and cost-effective integrated circuits.

Warren Hurwitz, President and CEO
Innovative Foundry Technologies LLC
Whurwitz@ifoundrytech.com
(603) 380-9121
Or
Michael Renaud, Division Head, Intellectual Property Section
Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky & Popeo, P.C
mtrenaud@mintz.com
(617) 348-1870

SOURCE Innovative Foundry Technologies LLC