New 2012 Lawsuit brought by Fairchild against Power Integrations in the U.S.
On May 1, 2012 Fairchild and SG filed new patent infringement claims against Power Integrations' LinkSwitch-PH LED power conversion products. Fairchild is seeking a permanent injunction preventing the sale, manufacture or use in the U.S. of Power Integrations products alleged to infringe Fairchild patent claims. Fairchild asserts three new patents that extend the company's primary side regulation technology, already found infringed by Power Integrations in an April 27, 2012 decision, to LED power conversion technology. The company is also seeking monetary damages. The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware.
The Fairchild-SG patents are:
- US Patent No. 7,525,259, "Primary Side Regulated Power Supply with Constant Current Output"
- US Patent No. 7,286,123, "LED Driver Circuit Having Temperature Compensation"'
- US Patent No. 7,616,461, "Control Method and Circuit With Indirect Input Voltage Detection by Switching Current Slope Detection".
2012 Jury Verdict: Power Integrations found to infringe Fairchild Semiconductor patent rights: Fairchild was found to infringe two other Power Integrations U.S. patents
On April 27, 2012, a jury in U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware found Power Integrations, Inc. infringes a Fairchild U.S. patent covering primary side regulation. Power Integrations products found to infringe include certain LinkSwitch-II and LinkSwitch-CV products. PI was found to infringe Fairchild-SG US Patent No. 7,259,972, "Primary-Side-Control Power Converter Having a Switching Controller Using Frequency Hopping and Voltage and Current Control Loops." The PI products that infringe Fairchild's patents include:
| LNK603PG/DG | LNK604PG/DG | LNK605PG/DG | LNK606PG/DG |
| LNK613PG/DG | LNK614PG/GG | LNK615PG/GG | LN616PG/DG |
| SC1092 | SC1097 | SC1096 | SC1099 |
| LNK623-LNK626 | SC1103 | LNK632DG | |
Fairchild will seek an injunction (court order) preventing further infringement. Specifically, we will seek an injunction to prevent the manufacture, sale, offer for sale or use in the United States, or the importation into the United States, of all affected parts. We are also seeking financial damages, which will be determined in a second phase of the lawsuit.
The same jury found Fairchild did not infringe two of four U.S. patents asserted by Power Integrations - US Patent No. 7,110,270 and US Patent No. 7,834,605 -- but found that Fairchild infringed two PI patents: US Patent No. 6,107,851and US Patent No 6,249,876 patent.
Fairchild has already introduced next-generation, replacement products for most of the technology and will be contacting customers about which products are affected by this lawsuit and which products are not implicated.
The verdict concluded the first phase of trial in the litigation which began in 2008. Willfulness and damages in the case will be determined in a second phase, which has yet to be scheduled and may occur after appeals of the first phase.
2010 Lawsuit brought by Fairchild against Power Integrations in China
Fairchild filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Power Integrations, Inc. in the People's Republic of China. Fairchild is seeking a permanent injunction preventing the sale, manufacture or use in China, or the importation into China, of Power Integrations products alleged to infringe three Chinese patents, including products in the TinySwitch II, TinySwitch III, LinkSwitch II, LinkSwitch XT and TOPSwitch GX product families. The company is also seeking monetary damages. The lawsuit was filed in Suzhou Intermediate Court.
2009 Lawsuit brought by Power Integrations against Fairchild & System General
On November 4, 2009, Power Integrations filed a lawsuit against Fairchild &System General in the United States District Court, Northern District of California.
- There are two Power Integrations patents now asserted against Fairchild in the lawsuit:
- No. 6,538,908 entitled "Method &Apparatus Providing a Multi-Function Terminal for a Power Supply Controller"[PDF]
- No. 6,212,079 entitled "Method &Apparatus for Improving Efficiency in a Switching Regulator at Light Loads"[PDF].
These two patents previously were asserted in a lawsuit filed by Power Integrations against SG on June 28, 2004. That lawsuit was eventually dismissed on May 23, 2008 at the request of both parties.
- Fairchild has also asserted a patent against Power Integrations in this lawsuit:
- No. 5,747,977 entitled "Switching Regulator Having Low Power Mode Responsive to Load Power Consumption"[PDF].
2004 Lawsuits brought by Power Integrations against Fairchild & System General Lawsuit Against Fairchild Semiconductor
Fairchild was found to infringe certain Power Integrations patents and final Judgment was entered against Fairchild January 26, 2011. Fairchild is appealing the judgment. Of the four PI patents at issue in the case, one has now expired
As a part of the lawsuit, on May 13, 2009, the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware issued a permanent injunction prohibiting Fairchild or its subsidiaries from making, using, selling or offering to sell in the United States, or importing into the United States, or inducing or contributing to the same by third parties, any of the products listed in the permanent injunction order. Even before that injunction went into effect, Fairchild had voluntarily withdrawn affected products from the U.S. market and has been offering replacement products since 2006.
Lawsuit and ITC Case Against System General
Power Integrations' separate lawsuit against System General, which also began in 2004, was dismissed in 2008. This dismissal followed the first reexamination office actions by the U.S. Patent Office rejecting all of the claims of all Power Integrations patents asserted in the lawsuit. In 2006, while the lawsuit was pending and before the U.S. Patent Office rejected the patents, Power Integrations obtained an exclusion order from the U.S. International Trade Commission, based on two of the four patents involved in the lawsuit. (Power Integrations withdrew the other two patents during the ITC proceedings, but had not withdrawn them from the lawsuit when it was dismissed.) The existing ITC order prevents the following System General power supply controllers from being imported into the United States:
- SG6840
- SG6841
- SG6841x3
- SG6842
- SG6842J
- SG6843
System General no longer offers the above parts for importation or sale in the U.S. and offers replacements parts which are not affected by the ITC order. The ITC order does not affect any Fairchild Semiconductor or System General parts other than those listed above.
