Power Supply Company Expands Patent Litigation

Dec 21, 2005 1:34 PM

Power-One has expanded its current patent infringement lawsuit against Artesyn Technologies by adding two additional patent applications to the body of intellectual property being asserted in the litigation. The newly added patent applications are U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0123164A1 (USPTO Serial Number 10/326,222) and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0093533A1 (USPTO Serial Number 10/293,001).

Additionally, Power-One filed a lawsuit on Dec. 14, 2005, against Silicon Laboratories for infringement of U.S. Patent Nos. 6,936,999 (the '999 patent, issued Aug. 30, 2005) and 6,949,916 (the '916 patent, issued Sept. 27, 2005), and of the two patent applications mentioned above. The proceedings involving Artesyn and Silicon Laboratories are filed in the U.S. 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.

Randall H. Holliday, secretary and general counsel of Power-One, commented, "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."

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