Posted: 23.01.2010 Go Back Print This Article

Register today and you could be in a chance to win an iTouch or a case of wine!.

It only takes two minutes and you can keep up with the latest news and events in the semiconductor industry.

Infineon files patent infringement lawsuit against Volterra Semiconductor

Voltage regulators and pulse width modulation controllers under fire.

Infineon Technologies has announced that it filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Volterra Semiconductor Corporation in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware. The suit seeks damages, including enhanced damages for willful infringement and injunctive relief.

The suit alleges that Volterra's voltage regulators and pulse width modulation controllers infringe four United States patents owned by Infineon. Voltage regulators and pulse width modulation controllers provide and maintain the power needed by the central/graphic processing unit (CPU/GPU) in servers, PCs, notebooks and high-end graphics cards.

Volterra has previously sued Infineon in November 2008 for patent infringement in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. In July 2009, Volterra filed a motion in that matter for a preliminary injunction, which was later denied by the district court. No trial date has been set in that matter. The three patents asserted by Volterra in the action filed by Volterra in California are the subjects of pending reexamination proceedings that are currently before the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The Patent Office has issued formal rejections of all of the asserted claims as to two of the three patents. The Patent Office has not filed a formal response as to the third patent, but that is expected shortly.