Context: There are various patent spats now over gallium nitride (GaN) technology, with Innoscience having to defend against claims by Infineon as well as EPC. Last month, Infineon obtained an ex parte preliminary injunction from the Munich I Regional Court (June 16, 2024 ip fray article). In the Northern District of California, where Infineon originally sued Innoscience in March, the latter filed a motion to dismiss the complaint last month that the objectively very busy judge (United States District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers of “Apple App Store antitrust” fame) asked to be refiled after a meet-and-confer effort to resolve disputes between the parties (June 26, 2024 ip fray article). ip fray considered an amended complaint rather likely.
What’s new: On Tuesday by local time, Infineon indeed amended its complaint, but not merely in an effort to address the alleged shortcomings of its original pleadings that Innoscience’s motion to dismiss raised. Going far beyond that, Infineon has thrown in three more patents, thereby quadrupling the number of patents-in-suit.
Direct impact: Infineon leaves no doubt about its determination to prevail in this dispute. Innoscience has proven to be a resilient defendant against EPC, but Infineon’s amended complaint ups the ante.
Wider ramifications: It would not be surprising if Infineon also asserted more patents in other jurisdictions, particularly in Germany (where the company is headquartered, though the original U.S. complaint was brought by an Austrian subsidiary, which is now joined by a U.S. subsidiary). Infineon’s choice of the Northern District of California remains interesting, given that it is a district many other patentees seek to avoid.
Here’s the amended complaint:
These are the patents-in-suit:
- U.S. Patent No. 9,899,481 (“Electric component and switch circuit”: this was the sole patent asserted in the original complaint and is being challenged by a PTAB IPR petition that Innoscience filed on June 14, 2024; the patent underlying the recent German preliminary injunction was from the same patent family)
- U.S. Patent No. 8,686,562 (“Refractory metal nitride capped electrical contact and method for frabricating same”)
- U.S. Patent No. 9,070,755 (“Transistor having elevated drain finger termination”)
- U.S. Patent No. 8,264,003 (“Merged cascode transistor”)
The infringement allegations are reasonably detailed and include annotated photos as well as diagrams.
Infineon is seeking a permanent injunction as well as damages.
Innoscience will now have to ask itself whether there is a basis for a renewed motion to dismiss or whether the time has come to file an answer to the complaint.