Fairchild Semiconductor, a leading global supplier of high-performance power and mobile products, filed a new U.S. patent infringement lawsuit against Power Integrations on May 1, 2012, just days after a U.S. jury found that Power Integrations infringed Fairchild's U.S. patents on primary-side regulation technology.

On April 27, 2012, a jury in the U.S. District Court in Delaware found that Power Integrations' LinkSwitch-II and LinkSwitch-CV products, particularly LNK603-606/613-616, SC1092, SC1097-99, SC1103, LNK632DG, LNK623-626 and products with substantially identical infringing circuits, infringed Fairchild's U.S. Patent 7,259,972. The jury determined that all claims of the patent asserted by Fairchild are valid.

"I am pleased and grateful that the court has confirmed the validity of our patents. Fairchild will continue to provide innovative solutions for our customers' success," said Tom Yang, Senior Vice President of the Power Conversion, Industrial & Automotive (PCIA) Products division of Fairchild. Tom Yang is an inventor of the patent found to be infringed.

Fairchild will request a court injunction to prevent further patent infringement and is considering damages claims. In this lawsuit, the willfulness of the patent infringement and damages will likely be determined in a second trial phase with an as-yet undetermined schedule, which may proceed following defendant's response to the first phase.

Following the favorable verdict for Fairchild the previous week, Fairchild filed a new patent lawsuit on May 1, 2012, targeting Power Integrations' LinkSwitch-PH LED power conversion products. Fairchild is also asserting patent infringement on three new patents that extend the primary-side regulation technology already found to be infringed by Power Integrations to LED power conversion technology. This lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Delaware.

In the April 27 verdict, the jury found that Fairchild did not infringe two of four U.S. patents asserted by Power Integrations. Fairchild was found to have infringed Power Integrations' remaining two U.S. patents. Fairchild's products found to infringe the patents include certain PWM controller products. Fairchild has already released next-generation, pin-compatible replacement products affected by the recent verdict and will contact customers regarding which products are affected by the lawsuit.

Fairchild and Power Integrations are involved in three other patent lawsuits. Fairchild has filed a patent infringement claim against Power Integrations in Suzhou, China, alleging infringement of three Fairchild Chinese patents. Fairchild is seeking a court injunction on Power Integrations products and damages in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

The two companies are currently awaiting a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit decision on an appeal from a 2004 lawsuit. Additionally, the two companies have filed patent infringement claims against each other in the San Francisco Federal Court, with trials scheduled for next year.