Patent Law

Dylan McGrath writing today, February 12, 2009, for EE Times states:

China's BCD Semiconductor Manufacturing Ltd. has agreed not to sell some parts in the U.S. market under the terms of a settlement of patent infringement litigation brought by U.S. high-voltage IC vendor Power Integrations Inc.

BCD Semi (Shanghai) said it would make no payment to Power Integrations under the terms of the settlement, but that the company has agreed not to sell in the U.S. some parts associated with the patents in question. The company said it also agreed not to sell the products for end use in the U.S. market.

The lawsuit, originally filed by Power Integrations in October 2007, alleged that certain controller chips manufactured by BCD infringed two U.S. patent held by Power Integrations. The case had been scheduled for trial in September 2009.

BCD Semi said it maintains that it did not infringe any patents. Many of the patent claims in the lawsuit are currently under a final rejection in reexamination proceedings ongoing in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, according to the company.

Read the full article here.