Appeal court affirms Soitec/SiGen judgement
SiGen says that the remaining claim only applied to a process that is no longer used by the company. Further, the process has never been used to manufacture production wafers. Under the affirmed verdict, SiGen will pay damages based on SiGen's limited infringement during its research and development phase.
The district court had previously found that SiGen had infringed the five other claims of the patent, but the jury found that these claims were not valid because they included the use of rare gas ions, in addition to hydrogen.
"We are gratified by the appeals court's decision to uphold the district court's original findings against SiGen, and we will immediately seek payment of the $3mn plus interest awarded to us by the court," says Andre Auberton-Herve, president and CEO of Soitec. "As the enablement decision has not been reversed, we will further pursue a demand of reissue for the patent concerning hydrogen and other ions. Clearly, the precedents established in this case will reinforce the scope of the reissued patent."
Soitec says that it will continue pursue its petition before the US Patent Office to have the patent reissued to eliminate any enablement problems with respect to the claims concerned. The revised claims are intended clarify the enablement of the process using hydrogen alone or in combination with other gas ions in the implantation step to achieve layer transfer.
