Power Integrations (Nasdaq:POWI),
the leader in high-voltage integrated circuits for energy-efficient
power conversion, today announced the latest result in its ongoing
patent litigation against Fairchild Semiconductor. After a two-week
trial, a Jury in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware
ruled that Fairchild infringes another Power Integrations patent, U.S.
Patent No. 7,995,359, and that Fairchild has contributed to and induced
infringement by its customers. The infringed patent relates to
zero-standby technologies; Power Integrations intends to seek a
permanent injunction to prevent the sales and importation of infringing
products and products with substantially similar circuitry. Though a
second Power Integrations patent was found by the Jury not to be
infringed, the accused Fairchild products are already covered by
infringement findings from the parties’ prior litigation.
Filed by Fairchild in 2012, the case initially included four patent
claims against Power Integrations, three of which were eliminated from
the case prior to trial. The Jury did rule that Power Integrations
induced infringement of a Fairchild patent that the company had
previously been found to infringe with respect to its LinkSwitch™-II
products, and awarded damages of $2.4M. However, the Court has already
rejected Fairchild’s earlier request for an injunction on that patent.
Moreover, the U.S. Patent Office has rejected all of the asserted claims
of Fairchild’s patent in re-examination in view of Power Integrations’
own prior patents. As such, Power Integrations does not anticipate any
disruption in the supply of LinkSwitch-II products, the only Power
Integrations product family at issue in this case.
The latest verdict marks the fifth finding of infringement of Power
Integrations’ patents by Fairchild and its System General (SG)
subsidiary. In 2006, Fairchild was found to infringe four of Power
Integrations’ patents, resulting in a permanent injunction against more
than 100 infringing Fairchild products. The court subsequently described
Fairchild’s behavior as “blatant copying,” and the finding that
Fairchild copied Power Integrations’ patented technology was confirmed
on appeal. Last year, Fairchild was ordered to undergo third-party
monitoring after Fairchild was found to have repeatedly violated the
Court’s injunction. Also in 2006, the International Trade Commission
found that SG infringed two of Power Integrations’ patents, and the ITC
issued an exclusion order barring the infringing products from the U.S.
market.
In 2012 another Jury in Delaware found that Fairchild infringed two
Power Integrations patents, a decision that led to a permanent
injunction against approximately 80 Fairchild products. Last year, a
Jury in the Federal District Court in California found that Fairchild
infringed two other Power Integrations patents; Power Integrations is
seeking a permanent injunction against the approximately 140 Fairchild
products implicated in that decision, and a trial to determine damages
in that case is scheduled for December 2015.
Commented Balu Balakrishnan, president and CEO of Power Integrations:
“Given that the Patent Office had already rejected Fairchild’s patent in
reexamination, Fairchild’s lawsuit was a wasteful and unnecessary
attempt by Fairchild to distract from their record of repeatedly
violating our intellectual property rights. Nevertheless, this latest
verdict ensures that another of Power Integrations’ important
innovations will be protected.”
About Power Integrations
Power
Integrations, Inc. is a leading innovator in semiconductor
technologies for high-voltage power-conversion. The company’s products
are key building blocks in the clean-power ecosystem, enabling the
generation of renewable energy as well as the efficient transmission and
consumption of power in applications ranging from milliwatts to
megawatts. For more information please visit www.power.com.
Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
The statement in this press release that the company expects no
disruption in the supply of LinkSwitch-II products is a forward-looking
statement reflecting management's current expectations and beliefs. This
forward-looking statement is based on current information that is
subject to change. Due to risks and uncertainties associated with the
company's business and the litigation process, actual results could
differ materially from those projected or implied by this
forward-looking statement. General risk factors associated with the
company’s business are more fully explained under the caption “Risk
Factors” in the company's most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q,
filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on April 30,
2015. The company is under no obligation to update or alter its
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise, except as otherwise required by the rules
and regulations of the SEC.
Power Integrations and the Power Integrations logo are trademarks or
registered trademarks of Power Integrations, Inc. All other trademarks
are property of their respective owners.
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