Avalanche Beats Early Bid to End ITC Patent Case Over Fee Errors

Avalanche Technology Inc. can continue pursuing an import ban against Everspin Technologies Inc.'s memory chips after a trade judge rejected an early bid to end the case due to fee and paperwork errors at the US Patent and Trademark Office.

Avalanche’s allegedly defective inventor declarations and underpaid patent-maintenance fees didn’t cause its magnetic-memory patents to expire, Administrative Law Judge Doris Johnson Hines said June 5 for the US International Trade Commission.

Three Avalanche patents expired because it improperly claimed small-entity discounts and paid reduced maintenance fees it wasn’t eligible for; and a fourth patent was invalid, unenforceable, or would expire ...