SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - Shares in microchip component designer Tessera
Technologies Inc. plunged Tuesday after an International Trade Commission judge
stayed the company's patent lawsuit against Motorola Inc. and others while
Tessera's chip designs are re-examined by U.S. patent regulators.
Tessera shares fell $13.73, or 37.4 percent, to $22.98 in morning trading.
They earlier hit a year low of $22.15 after trading in the past year between
$31.35 and $46.43.
Over the past week, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has informed
Tessera that it has rejected the majority of Tessera's claims for three
microchip design patents at the center of the lawsuit.
However, a company spokesperson that the rejection was part of the overall
re-examination process and that Tessera could continue to assert its right to
the patents until the process was completed.
Tessera said it will also appeal the PTO decision to the ITC and will
"continue to vigorously defend its patent claims" at the Patent and Trademark
Office re-examination, which was instituted at the request of one of the lawsuit
respondents.
Tessera filed the ITC case against Motorola, Qualcomm Inc., Freescale
Semiconductor and ATI Technologies, a unit of Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
On Feb. 22, Motorola and the other respondents filed a motion to stop the
ITC lawsuit.
Judge Theodore Essex granted the motion on Monday morning as the patent
trial was about to begin.
The patents relate to chip packages, which carry electrical signals between
chips and computers and protect the chips from contamination.
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