Tribunal Invalidates Chip Patent After Inquiry Into Intel Link

A patent covering chip technology was canceled by an administrative tribunal after US Patent and Trademark Office Deputy Director Coke Morgan Stewart ordered discovery into the relationship between Intel Corp. and the challenger, a subsidiary of ON Semiconductor Corp.

Patent owner Greenthread LLC failed to prove a legal relationship between the petitioner, Semiconductor Components Industries LLC, and Intel to render the validity challenge as time-barred, according to an order docketed Oct. 17 by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. The board invalidated Greenthread’s US Patent No. 10,510,842 as obvious in light of prior inventions.

Semiconductor Components in April accused Stewart ...