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asimecs
It may be the only defense of small companies against big predators. Remember ...
goafrit
Companies are just enriching lawyers to the detriment of shareholders and ...
Update: Sidense sues Kilopass, CEO Cheng
Peter Clarke
9/6/2011 7:39 AM EDT
LONDON – Sidense Corp., a licensor of non-volatile memory cores, has said it has filed a law suit in the Northern District of California against rival Kilopass Technology Inc. and Kilopass CEO Charlie Cheng, on five counts, alleging defamation and unfair competition.
On the same day (Friday Sept. 2) that Sidense (Ottawa, Canada) was announcing this move, Kilopass (Santa Clara, Calif.) put out a press release claiming that a recent Markman order delivered in long-standing patent litigation between the companies was favorable to Kilopass. Sidense has issued a statement stating that the Markman order was favorable to its cause and that Kilopass has asked for a five-month trial delay.
In the suit filed by Sidense the company is asking for a jury trial and damages and alleges that Kilopass and Cheng have been putting out misleading information to Sidense's customers and potential customers. This has included the dissemination of allegedly false information about Sidense technology, patents and the patent infringement litigation going on between the companies.
"We hope persons who believe they may have received such information from Kilopass or Mr. Cheng will contact us," said Xerxes Wania, Sidense's CEO and president, in a statement. "Customers should be free to select technology on its merits, without being subjected to false and misleading information intended to spread fear, uncertainty and doubt."
On the same day, Kilopass issued a statement saying that the recently delivered Markman order was "favorable to Kilopass on all of the ten most disputed patent terms in its litigation against Sidense." Kilopass added that the patent infringement litigation was expected to come to trial in spring 2012.
The Markman order touched upon the definition of a transistor in terms of structure, operation and connectivity; on the definition of a memory cell and other technical terms, Kilopass said.
"We believe the U.S. District Court's decision that supports Kilopass' definition of key terms used in our patents will facilitate Kilopass task to prove a case against Sidense for infringement of our intellectual property,” said Lee Cleveland, vice president of engineering at Kilopass Technology, in the same statement.
In a statement issued Tuesday (Sept. 6) Sidense said the definition of terms by Judge Susan Illston did not favor Kilopass and that by asking the court to delay trial by an additional five months Kilopass was showing that it was losing the legal fight. "Kilopass will be unable to prove infringement,” said Wlodek Kurjanowicz, founder and CTO of Sidense, in the statement.
Related links and articles:
www.kilopass.com
www.sidense.com
News articles:
SMIC picks Kilopass NVM IP for 55-nm
Sidense OTP memory ported to On Semi CMOS
Sidense files to nix rival's patents
Sidense denies Kilopass patent infringement allegations
Kilopass, Sidense gain VC funding
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goafrit
9/6/2011 1:51 PM EDT
Companies are just enriching lawyers to the detriment of shareholders and investors. This has to stop.
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asimecs
9/6/2011 2:24 PM EDT
It may be the only defense of small companies against big predators. Remember patents are given ONLY to individuals, not big corporations.
The US patent system is still one of the best in the world.
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