After two years of legal wrangling, ITC (International Trade Commission) ruled that Taiwanese LCD controller IC companies Mstar, MRT, and Trumpion had violated patent rights of Genesis. The three Taiwanese makers were found guilty of infringing Genesis' Patent No. 5,739,867 entitled "Method and Apparatus for Upscaling an Image in both Horizontal and Vertical Directions."

 

ITC also issued an exclusion order, prohibiting imports of the three Taiwanese makers into the U.S. in sixty days' time. Import of infringing goods, however, may continue before the deadline upon the payment of a bond by the importer.

 

While Mstar has decided to appeal to the US-based Federal Circuit for further explanation of such ruling's legality, MRT and Trumpion are considering shipping a smaller share of LCD controller IC to minimize the impact. In March 2004 MRT already applied to terminate share trading on Taiwan's emerging-enterprise bourse, due to losses incurred from lawsuits with Genesis. Trumpion also decided to phase out LCD controller production as a result of legal pressure.