Power-One Inc. has expanded its current patent infringement lawsuit against Artesyn Technologies Inc. by adding two additional patent applications to the body of intellectual property being asserted in the litigation. The newly added patent applications are United States Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0123164A1 (USPTO Serial Number 10/326,222) and United States Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0093533A1 (USPTO Serial Number 10/293,001).
Additionally, Power-One filed a lawsuit on December 14, 2005 against Silicon Laboratories Inc. for infringement of United States Patent Nos. 6,936,999 (the '999 patent, issued August 30, 2005) and 6,949,916 (the '916 patent, issued September 27, 2005), and of the two patent applications mentioned above. The proceedings involving Artesyn and Silicon Laboratories are filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division.
In its Complaint against Silicon Laboratories, Power-One alleges that Silicon Laboratories is infringing the patents and patent applications by making, using, selling, or offering to sell its Si825x family of digital power supply controllers. The Si825x products are marketed noting, among other features, a PMBus compliant hardware interface. The lawsuit seeks compensatory damages and a permanent injunction to prohibit Silicon Laboratories from making, using, selling or offering to sell infringing products, including the Si825x products.
The patents and patent applications in the litigation concern aspects of digital power management and control. Power-One has incorporated its technology into its Z-One™ system architecture, which allows for the central control of distributed point of load power regulators from a single digital power manager. In addition to the issued patents in this lawsuit, Power-One has a growing family of system and element-specific patents and patent applications covering its Z-One products and architecture.
"These recent actions reflect our continued focus on bringing the full scope of our applicable intellectual property before the court. The additional patents are closely related to the patents initially listed in our original suit against Artesyn, and reflect the broadening scope of the intellectual property we are confident applies to Power-One's approach to digital power management and control," stated Randall H. Holliday, Secretary and General Counsel of Power-One.
Mr. Holliday continued, "Our suit against Silicon Laboratories has been combined with our suit against Artesyn Technologies. We are committed to protecting our intellectual property, and to reaping the benefits of our ongoing efforts to revolutionize digital power management and control in the power supply industry. Z-One products incorporate break-through technologies to define a new era in digital power management. We will continue to protect our intellectual property when we determine that action is appropriate, and to present all allegations of infringement to the court as and when applicable patents have been formally issued. We believe Silicon Laboratories' family of PMBus-compliant products infringe the patents listed in this suit. As with our suit against Artesyn, protection of our intellectual property is clearly in the interests of our business and of our shareholders."
Power-One is represented in the suit by Fish & Richardson. The firm claims to handle more patent litigation than any other law firm in the world.
