Innoscience Technology, a company founded to create a global energy ecosystem based on high-performance, low-cost, gallium-nitride-on-silicon (GaN-on-Si) power solutions, announces that it has petitioned the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for inter partes review (“IPR”) of the validity of U.S. Patent No. 9,899,481 (“the ’481 patent”) owned by Infineon Technologies Austria AG (“Infineon”). Innoscience’s IPR petition, filed on June 14, 2024, requests that the USPTO cancel all claims of the ’481 patent as invalid.
Innoscience’s IPR petition regarding the Infineon ‘481 patent is but one response to the recent patent lawsuits filed by Infineon against Innoscience. The ’481 patent is the only patent that is asserted by Infineon in a patent infringement suit filed in the Northern District of California on March 13, 2024. Infineon also recently filed lawsuits in the District Court in Munich, Germany, asserting the German counterpart to the ’481 patent, along with two other German patents.
Of significant importance, the lawsuits only concern a small fraction of Innoscience’s GaN transistors and does not affect the vast majority of its many products. Also, the filing of the lawsuits have absolutely no effect on Innoscience’s current ability to make, use, sell, offer to sell, or import its products for customers, until there is an adjudication, which would be months (or potentially even years) into the future, depending on the pace and timing of the proceedings.
Further, Innoscience specifically denies each and every of Infineon’s infringement allegations, and believes that the asserted patents are invalid based on the grounds presented its IPR, among other reasons. Infineon claims that the ’481 patent covers certain core innovations of GaN power semiconductors, but those claims are unfounded. Instead, the ‘481 patent is related solely to semiconductor packaging, pertaining only to semiconductor packaging designs that have long been known in the semiconductor industry (e.g. QFN packages). As such, the patent is invalid.
Innoscience’s IPR petition against the Infineon ‘481 patent in the USPTO presents seven prior art references and thirteen grounds of invalidity, with additional supporting evidence and expert testimony, demonstrating that all 17 claims of the Infineon ‘481 patent are invalid. Claim 1 of the ’481 patent, the only claim asserted in the Northern District of California litigation, is challenged as obvious over two independent grounds, with one ground showing that all of independent claim 1 is disclosed or rendered obvious by a single prior art reference, and another showing all of claim 1 is rendered obvious by the combination of two prior art references.
Innoscience is confident that the USPTO will find the Infineon ‘481 patent is invalid. The cancellation of the ‘481 patent would moot all of Infineon’s infringement allegations in the Northern District of California and cause the U.S. litigation case to be terminated. Innoscience plans to pursue invalidity of the three asserted German patents and is confident that it will also prevail.
With professionalism and honesty, Innoscience seeks a cooperative and mutually beneficial approach to develop the global GaN industry, even among others in the same industry, including Infineon. Innoscience respects others’ valid IP rights and is also dedicated to developing its own IP and technology. Despite being an eight-year old company, Innoscience has filed more than 800 patent applications globally. Innoscience’s R&D team boasts 500+ experts across the world.
Innoscience intends to prevail in the pending lawsuits and is determined to remain a trusted and reliable partner for its customers and contribute to their success by offering top-notch and versatile products and solutions based on Innoscience’s home-grown, superior technologies. Innoscience denies all of Infineon’s patent allegations and disputes the validity of the Infineon patents, and Innoscience will vigorously defend itself and is confident that it will prevail.
