The United States International Trade Commission (ITC) has announced investigation on Toshiba, Panasonic, Sharp, Samsung and LG electronics for alleged patent infringements claimed by Black Hills Media, an electronics company based in the US state of Delaware.

After analyzing Black Hills’ complaint in May, the ITC announced the investigation on July 2, 2013, to check a variety of products including televisions, Blu-ray players, home theatre systems, tablets and mobile phones of the alleged defendants.

Black Hills alleged that the five companies breached the IP law in five separate cases in violation of Section 337 of the US patent law. The company has already requested the ITC to issue a “permanent limited exclusion order and permanent cease and desist orders” to the five companies.

The biggest concern to the companies, particularly Samsung and LG, is that if the ITC rules in favour of Black Hills, the ITC could recommend the US president to ban their exports such as televisions, phones and tablet computers to the US, which can be detrimental to their currently top-notch market shares in the country.

Nevertheless, the ITC has promised to weigh the validity of Black Hills’ patents, its assertion as well as the possible effects its decision may have on the US market, before making any final judgment.