Nintendo Sues Taiwan Chip Maker

REDMOND - Nintendo of America said it has filed a lawsuit in federal court in California against Taiwan's largest maker of semiconductors and its U.S. subsidiary over alleged illegal production of microprocessor chips found in counterfeit Nintendo video games.

The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, seeks monetary damages and injunctive relief against Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. of Taiwan and its wholly owned subsidiary, TSMC-U.S.A. Inc. of San Jose, Calif.

TSMC's principal owners are the Taiwanese government and the Dutch electronics giant N.V. Philips.

The filing of the civil suit followed the discovery of counterfeit chips manufactured by TSMC contained in 16-bit Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Super Famicom units sold in Colombia, Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

In addition, counterfeit video game software and security chips that were manufactured by TSMC were discovered in counterfeit Nintendo products sold in Europe, Latin America and Asia.