A Los Angeles District Court issued an order on 10 October 2003 clarifying that VIA Technologies, Inc. and AOpen, Inc. are subject to a preliminary injunction that applies to infringing optical disk drive software,controllers and drives.

The Court’s order applies to “any version of software developed by VIA for use with VIA’s CD-ROM controllers, any copy or derivative of any such software, or anything substantially similar to any such software” that might enter the United States. Also, the Court’s order states that VIA is barred from producing, promoting or selling its CD-ROM controllers in any manner that might enter the United States. Among other restrictions, AOpen is barred from producing, promoting,importing or selling, in any manner that might reach the United States, any product that contains any version of the software developed by VIA for use with VIA’s CD-ROMcontrollers.

In another aspect of the order, the Court stated that the injunction applies not only toVIA, but also to VIA’s officers, directors, subsidiaries and successors in interest.

MediaTek requested clarification from the Court to remove the confusion and uncertainty created by statements made by VIA and AOpen after the Court issued its initial preliminary injunction order. “We are pleased by the action taken by the Court in confirming the injunction against VIA’s and AOpen’s infringement,” said MediaTek spokesman Ming-To Yu. The preliminary injunction is based on MediaTek’s claim that VIA’s and AOpen’s products infringe MediaTek’s optical disk controller firmware copyrights. Trial on MediaTek’s patent, copyright and trade secret claims against VIA and AOpen is scheduled for early next year.