Patent Law

The following is excerpted from a November 16, 2009 Convergence press release published at PRNewswire-Asia:

Convergence Technologies (USA) LLC, of Reston Virginia, today announces that it has filed a lawsuit (Docket No. 1:09cv1256) in the Eastern District of Virginia against Hewlett-Packard, Sapphire Technology Limited (a Hong Kong company) and Taiwan Microloops Corporation (a Taiwanese registered company, herein referred to as Microloops) for the infringement, contributory infringement, and/or inducement to infringe upon its U.S. patent #7,422,053. Joseph J. Zito of ZITO tlp has been appointed as its lead litigator.

"With the recent Taiwan court's ruling and Microloops' predatory pricing practice, we have no choice but to now turn to the U.S. court for protection," said Dr. Steven H. Lee, Founding President & CEO of Convergence Technologies Limited. Dr. Lee further adds that "It is unfortunate that venture capital was scarce in Hong Kong, which gave other companies the opportunity to exploit our weakness, but we have the best vapor chamber technology in the world, and Joe Zito will help us ensure this technology reaches the market place.

"ZITO tlp has been given the mandate to engage in discussions with U.S.- based alleged infringers, many of whom may not even know they were using Microloops' parts because they are typically sold through another OEM, ODM or distributor. And, although lawsuits are currently only being brought against these three companies, Convergence maintains the right to take legal actions against other endusers at a later time. It is therefore important for the market to note that authorized sellers will be published on our website and authorized products will be labelled with our logo and the aforementioned patent number."

In 2008, Convergence had attempted to avoid the involvement of end users in this patent dispute by filing a patent infringement lawsuit against Microloops in Taiwan, despite Taiwan's limited protection for intellectual property. However, on September 7th of 2009, the Taiwan court sided with Microloops and dismissed Convergence's complaint based on its view that its Taiwan patent lacked novelty and inventiveness. This is despite the fact that Convergence's technology, in addition to being granted patents from around the world, including from the U.S., has also to-date been granted three patents in Taiwan. Vapor chamber is a relatively new cooling technology critical to the electronic industry, particularly the server and blade server markets. Convergence had discovered a unique condensate flow requirement in vapor chambers, and patented a Multiwick structure uniquely characterized by its spatially varying wicking power. It is this Multiwick structure that gives Convergence's vapour chambers its superior cooling capabilities.

Read the full press release here.