TAIPEI, Taiwan, Dec. 8 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- System General, the leading
provider of power management ICs, today announced that it had officially
filed an appeal against the final determination of USITC investigation 337-TA-
541 in the hope that the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal
Circuit would hear on this case and make a new determination against the said
unfavorable results for the company.
Mr. Chandler Lin, president of System General, pointed out that ever
since the Administrative Law Judge of United States International Trade
Commission (USITC) made an initial determination which was unfavorable to the
company in May, System General had conducted an in-depth analysis on the text
of the final determination of USITC and the evidence after consulting with
legal and patent advisors as well as in-house technical experts. They
reached the consensus that the said USITC final determination had left many
disputes unsolved, so the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal
Circuit might well hold a different view on this case. System General had
decided to file an appeal after carefully weighing the expected input of
resources and the chance of a victory. This decision was mainly aimed at
protecting the company's long standing conviction to respect patents and
pursue technical innovation.
USITC investigation 337-TA-541 was filed by Power Integrations Inc. of
the U.S. on May 16, 2005. In August, 2006, USITC made an initial
determination unfavorable to System General and issued a limited exclusion
order to six IC products and two downstream products for LCD monitor and
printer which included the said six IC products. The said exclusion order
officially came into force in mid October. This had caused a short impact on
System General's business performance from May to July, but its revenue had
gradually recovered beginning in August because of a smooth introduction of
new products.
According to System General, the said appeal would last for more than a
year. It was estimated that an outcome of the said appeal would be disclosed
in the first half of 2008.
About System General
System General was founded in 1983. Initially, the company primarily
offered power system design services. In 1985, it began R&D, manufacturing,
and marketing of IC programming and testing instruments. After endeavors of
more than a decade, SG has earned a reputation for high quality goods and has
received recognition from customers in Taiwan and abroad. In 1999, SG
established its semiconductor branch, and began officially offering IC design
services. Its principal products are power management ICs, which were
introduced to the market in 2002. Most Taiwan IC design firms concentrate on
the DC-DC field, while SG is the only IC design firm in Taiwan possessing
comprehensive AC-DC power management chip production lines with products used
on the power management systems of various kinds of computers, peripherals,
wireless communications equipment, and home appliances.
SG is headquartered in Taiwan with subsidiaries in the US and China and
an office in Korea, and has established several marketing channels in Europe,
America, and the Asia Pacific region, actively paving the way for
globalization.
The two SG business groups currently offer the following products:
1. Power control and management IC: ATX SMPS control IC; energy-saving PWM
control IC; scanner analog front end control IC
2. IC programming and testing instrument: fully automatic IC programming
and testing system; universal/special component IC burner; mass
produced/R&D IC burner
SG Web site: http://www.sg.com.tw/
