US ITC is investigating everyone

IF YOU HAVE NOT BEEN INVESTIGATED YET by the US International Trade Commission (ITC) for patent infringement, then chances are that your writ is still in the post.

Lately we have been reporting how practically everyone connected with technology is spending their time in court fighting claims from rivals that they pinched their ideas.

Nokia, Apple, Microsoft and HTC are all in court. Normally such cases end up at the ITC where it is possible to get your rival's imports to the US banned. This puts pressure on your rival to settle out of court.

This morning the ITC announced three more patent cases to add to the tangled web.

Rovi and Rovi Guides, which is also known as Gemstar-TV, and United Video have sued Toshiba. The three claim that Toshiba infringed their patents on interactive program guides and parental controls with its tellies and digital video recorders that incorporate interactive program guides and technology for implementing parental controls.

Meanwhile Overland Storage has complained about BDT, Dell and IBM nicking its idea for automated media library devices. The products in this investigation are automated media storage systems used primarily for electronic data backup.

Data Network Storage claims that Netapp, Dell, Xyratex, Dot Hill System, Big Blue, Cisco and QNAP Systems all make gear that infringe on its patents for receiving and storing digital data. µ