Power Integrations Wins another Patent Case against Fairchild
After a month-long trial in federal district court in San Francisco, a jury has found that Fairchild willfully infringed two of Power Integrations' patents, and awarded Power Integrations damages of $105 million. Based on the finding of willfulness, the Court could enhance the award up to three times the amount specified by the jury. The jury also denied all counterclaims by Fairchild alleging infringement by Power Integrations.
Based on the jury's findings, Power Integrations intends to seek a permanent injunction against the more than 140 infringing parts implicated in the decision (and any additional parts with substantially identical infringing circuitry). The infringing features include what Fairchild terms its "Green Mode" technology.
The decision follows three previous findings of infringement against Fairchild and its System General (SG) subsidiary in cases brought by Power Integrations. In 2006, Fairchild was found in another federal court to infringe four of Power Integrations' patents, resulting in a permanent injunction against more than 100 infringing Fairchild products.
The court later found the infringement to be willful, describing Fairchild's behavior as "blatant copying." Also in 2006, the International Trade Commission found that SG infringed two of Power Integrations' patents (including one of the same patents involved in the latest verdict) and later issued an exclusion order barring the infringing products from the U.S. market.
In 2012, Fairchild was again found to violate two of the same patents found to be infringed in the 2006 district-court decision. Power Integrations is presently seeking an injunction against approximately 80 Fairchild products implicated in that ruling (and any additional parts with substantially identical infringing circuitry), as listed below.
Commented Balu Balakrishnan, president and CEO of Power Integrations: "Today's decision marks the fourth time Fairchild and its SG subsidiary have been found to infringe our patents. We hope this latest finding and the accompanying damage award will cause Fairchild to finally re-examine their business practices and begin respecting the intellectual property that we have worked so hard to develop over the past 25 years."
