Patent Law

Inventorship Eruption

By Gary Odom and Jordan Kuhn

In 2004, Magma Design Automation, an automated chip design company, sent a threatening letter to rival Synopsys about patent infringement. Synopsys responded with a declaratory judgment motion that two Magma patents were conceived while its inventor, now Magma chief scientist Lukas van Ginneken, was employed at Synopsys, hence the patents were rightfully Synopsys property. In 2005, Van Ginneken signed a declaration that Magma management knew. Magma stock nosedived 40% in a single day. In the aftermath, the companies settled, costing Magma $12.5 million. But that didn't end of the story.

Stockholders filed a class action lawsuit. Earlier this week, a federal district court judge tentatively approved Magma paying $13.5 million to settle the securities suit.

Full post as published by The Patent Prospector on July 24, 2008 (boomark / email).