Rare Decision on Semiconductor Chip Protection Act

The U. S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld a jury verdict of infringement of the Semiconductor Chip Protection Act (SCPA) where the alleged infringer used the plaintiff's bitstream logic to program an application specific integrated circuit chip. Altera Corp. v. Clear Logic, Inc., Case Nos. 03-17323, 03-17334 (9th Cir. Sept. 15, 2005) (Hug, J.).

Altera manufactures programmable logic devices, or PLDs, which are chips that can be programmed to perform various functions. Clear Logic manufactures single-function chips, called application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs). Unlike PLDs, ASICs cannot be programmed by the customer. Clear Logic creates ASICs compatible with Altera chips by having Altera’s customers send it the bitstream file generated by use of the Altera chip programmed to a certain function. Clear Logic uses this bitstream to create an ASIC for the customer that mimics the operation of a programmed Altera chip.