Digital Trends

The United States International Trade Commission has opened an investigation into five hard disk manufacturers after allegations of patent infringement.

The United States International Trade Commission has announced that it has opened an investigation into five companies after allegations that hard disk drive products made by and used by the companies violate technology patents. The investigation will focus on hard drive technology from Western Digital, Seagate, and Toshiba, as well as computer makers Hewlett-Packard and Dell.

The ITC's investigation responds to a complaint from Steven and Mary Reiber, of Lincoln, California, filed on September 10, 2007, alleging that certain hard disk drives (and the companies using those drives) infringe on patents covering "dissipative ceramic bonding tips." The complaint seeks a ban on importation of products which violate the patent. The ITC announcement does not disclose the patents in question, but the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office shows several patents on file (including 6,935,548, 6,651,864 and 6,354,479 related to the technology.

The ITC has 45 days to set a time frame for completing its investigation. If the companies are found to violate the Reibers' patents and no settlement can be arranged, the ITC could ban importation of hard drives using the technology, which (in turn) could have a negative impact on computer makers like Dell and HP as they either shift to non-infringing hard drive technologies or come to some other arrangement.