14 DAY TRIAL // Ultra Products, an obscure hardware manufacturer has triggered an enormous lawsuit against almost any power-supply unit manufacturer on the market, based on the alleged fact that they infringe upon the company's patented technology.
The lawsuit claims that a vast number of high-power modular power supply manufacturers are abusing the company's intellectual property regarding some aspects of its modular design. Ultra Products filled a patent that covers supplying power "to a component disposed inside of the computer case via a removable cable attached to the power supply". The patent application form dates back in August 2004 and was effective as of July 2006.
The company's major competitors on the PC market are also producing modular power supplies, and Ultra Products decided that it can squeeze quite some money by taking them to court. The lawsuit targets a large number of manufacturers, including Antec, Channel Well Technology, Corsair Memory, and Enhance Electronics.
The list continues with E-Power Technology/PCMCIS, FSP Group USA, Koolance USA, Mushkin, OCZ Technology, Sea Sonic Electronics, Silverstone Technology, SPI Electronic, Spire-Bytecom Fanner Corporation, Tagan Technology, Thermaltake Technology as well as Topower Computer Industrial and Zalman.
At the moment, there are only a few details about the lawsuit, but it seems like Ultra Products did not take any legal action in respect of Nvidia, AMD and Intel's partners who are currently using this technology. More than that, the lawsuit does not mention any patent number, just the covered technology.
The affected companies refused to comment on the lawsuit, and claimed that they are working around the clock to investigate if Ultra Products' claims are justified or not.
This might be one of those scams, but it could also mean the end of the modular power sources as we know them. If the judge finds in favor of Ultra Products, the infringing companies will be forced to pay licensing and royalty fees or cease manufacturing the anti-clutter devices.