ITC ALJ Issues Win for AMD

Winston was retained as lead trial counsel to defend AMD in a massive ITC action brought against AMD by its competitor Realtek Semiconductor Corp. Realtek accused AMD of infringing three patents relating to integrated circuit designs. AMD faced an exclusion order and cease-and-desist order at the ITC.

The week-long trial took place before Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) Cameron Elliot in October 2023. Judge Elliot issued a sweeping win for AMD, in January 2024, finding that all asserted claims of two of the patents were invalid for multiple reasons, and that all asserted claims of the third patent were not infringed by AMD and all but one of the claims were also invalid. The ALJ also found that Realtek had not proven the existence of the economic prong of the domestic industry—a rare outcome at the ITC. 

IMPACT

The win is significant for AMD because dozens of its product families were implicated. It also sends a signal to non-U.S. companies that the ITC’s domestic industry requirement has teeth and cannot be assumed to exist based merely on a patentee’s alleged licenses with U.S.-based entities.

(Certain Integrated Circuits, Components Thereof, and Products Containing the Same; Inv. No. 337-TA-1350)