WASHINGTON – The US International Trade Commission has reversed a lower court’s ruling, determining instead that several semiconductor firms are violating no patents on ICs using tungsten metalization.

In its ruling, the ITC terminated the investigation, which had been ongoing since May 2008.

In the original complaint, LSI and Agere Systems alleged violations of section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930, covering the import and sale of ICs using tungsten metallization. The plaintiffs alleged infringement by several companies.

Prior rulings had eliminated certain parties from the complaint, leaving Tower Semiconductor, Jazz Semiconductor, Powerchip, Grace Semiconductor, Integrated Device Technology and Nanya as defendants.