WASHINGTON, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) initiated a Section 337 investigation Thursday into five consumer electronics companies based in China, Japan and the United States for patent infringement.

The probe is grounded on a complaint filed by Graphics Properties Holdings in the U.S. state of New Jersey on May 17, 2013, the USITC said in a statement.

Five consumer electronics companies -- Japan's Panasonic and Toshiba, China's ZTE and AmTran as well as Vizio from the U.S. -- are involved in the probe.

Graphics accused these companies of infringing its patents related to consumer electronics such as laptop PCs and television sets with display and processing capabilities, and requested an exclusion order and "cease and desist" orders, according to the federal bipartisan panel.

The USITC will set a target date within 45 days for completing the investigation.

Should the complaint be approved, the panel will issue remedial orders, such as a ban of accused products.

There are no responses to the charge so far on the five companies' websites.

The complaint is the second one the USITC lauched in short-term. Two days earlier, it announced that it would investigate a case submitted by Black Hills Media last month regarding alleged patent violation linked to major Korean and Japanese electronices companies. Panasonic and Toshiba are also on the complaint list.

(Source: Xinhua)