SynQor, Inc. announced that it has prevailed in its patent litigation suit against industry suppliers of unregulated and semi-regulated bus converters used in Intermediate Bus Architecture applications (SynQor, Inc. v. Artesyn Technologies, Inc. et al.
SynQor asserted 5 patents against 11 of the largest industry suppliers of unregulated and semi-regulated bus converters in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. In a unanimous verdict, the jury found that each of the 11 defendants infringed one or more of SynQor’s patents and upheld the validity of all such patents.
In addition, the jury awarded SynQor collective damages in excess of $95 million against Artesyn Technologies, Inc., Astec America, Inc., Bel Fuse Inc., Cherokee International Corp., Delta Electronics, Inc., Delta Products Corp., Lineage Power Corp., Murata Elec. North America, Inc., Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd., Murata Power Solutions Inc., and Power-One, Inc.
A hearing on SynQor’s motion to enjoin further sales by defendants of infringing products has been set for January 19, 2011 in Marshall, Texas.
SynQor’s patents at issue in the lawsuit were U.S. Patent Nos. 7,072,190, 7,272,021, 7,558,083, 7,564,702 and 7,269,034.
SynQor President and Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Martin F. Schlecht, commented: "We are very pleased with the jury’s verdict. SynQor brought unregulated and semi-regulated intermediate bus converter architecture to the market many years ago and has been denied the opportunity to profit from its success. We now look forward to working with our customers in continuing to implement this important power architecture in their telecommunications, network, storage, computing and other applications."
Power-One responding by noting that the patents were issued in the United States in 2006 and only cover infringing sales in the United States. The Power-One products accused of infringing the SynQor patents involve only two product families with total annual worldwide revenue of approximately $7 million, and primarily impact only one customer. The jury awarded damages of approximately $25.6 million against Power-One.
Furthermore, Power-One observed that while the verdict solely affects its Power Solutions business, it is not expected to materially impact this business line. Power-One’s Renewable Energy Solutions business is also not affected by this verdict.
Bel Fuse announced that it is currently evaluating the impact of the verdict, but does not believe that the impact will be material to its overall business. Bel is also evaluating its grounds for appeal.
Power-One and other defendants believe that they have strong grounds for appeal. In addition to SynQor’s request for an injunction, there are numerous JMOL (Judgement as a Matter of Law) motions still pending before the court that could impact the final outcome. "We have no comment, since this case is far from being concluded," stated David Baldridge representing Emerson Electric.
