Kilopass Expands Lawsuit Against Sidense to Include Two Additional Patents and False Advertisement

Update: Synopsys Expands DesignWare IP Portfolio with Acquisition of Kilopass Technology (Jan. 10, 2018)

US Patent Office Documents Revealed Direct Contradictions to Sidense’s Promotion; Customer Interviews Indicate Blatant Deceptions

Santa Clara, Calif. – June 7, 2010 – Kilopass Technology Inc., a leading provider of semiconductor logic non-volatile memory (NVM) IP, announced today that in keeping with the service requirements of the Hague Convention it is initiating an amendment to the patent infringement lawsuit against Sidense Corp. in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California on June 4, 2010, to include infringement of two additional US patents granted to Kilopass.  The complaint now includes three patents: US 6,940,751, US 6,856,540 and US 6,777,757.  In addition, the complaint also alleges that Sidense violated multiple Federal, California and Common Law statutes concerning gross negligence, unfair business practices, false advertising, and defamation.

“In our due diligence process over the past months, we continued to be surprised by the scope of the patent infringement and the widespread nature of Sidense’s deceptive practices,” said Lee Cleveland, Kilopass’ VP of Engineering, who heads up the litigation effort. “Therefore, we’ve expanded the complaint to seven counts of violation, and we intend to seek the maximum legal relief possible.”

Kilopass also has initiated actions at the USPTO to clarify and invalidate Sidense’s patent.  The prosecution history clearly showed Sidense’s inability to gain patent coverage on 1T-Fuse, due to the prior art in Kilopass’ patents.  Yet Sidense’s own web site and marketing material clearly state “Sidense's patented 1T-Fuse™ Logic NVM …,” which contradicts its own USPTO prosecution history. Sidense’s patents are all peripheral logic patents that are not specific to OTP (one-time programmable) or any memory per se.  Furthermore, Kilopass was informed by partners and customers that, among other statements, Sidense was claiming Kilopass did not have 1T patents and that Kilopass and Sidense had resolved any intellectual property disputes between them.

Sidense Infringes Additional Patents

Kilopass initiated the patent infringement lawsuit naming the US 6,940,751 patent as being infringed.  Upon further diligence and review, Kilopass concluded that this was not the only patent Sidense infringed.   Two additional patents, US 6,856,540 and US 6,777,757 – earlier patents in the 1T OTP family – were also infringed by Sidense’s technology, providing Kilopass additional legal basis upon which to prevail in the litigation proceeding.  Furthermore, during the 2007 to 2008 time period, Sidense was confronted with the same list of patents and was unable to survive the prosecution process in its own patent filing effort.

“All along we had contemplated using five patents, if necessary, in our litigation strategy,” said Kilopass CTO Harry Luan. “We started cautiously, but given the amount of interaction between Sidense and USPTO examiners, we are confident Sidense fully understood where it stood, even back in 2008.  Therefore, we feel it is essential to give the jury the complete view of our patent portfolio to ensure a clear verdict.”  

Availability of the Complaint

Kilopass customers, partners, and interested parties can contact Erika Duscha for a copy of the amended complaint. 

About Kilopass

Kilopass Technology, Inc., a leading supplier of embedded NVM intellectual property, leverages standard logic CMOS processes to deliver one-time programmable (OTP) memory. With 54 patents granted or pending and more than 500,000 wafers shipped from a dozen foundries and Integrated  Device Manufacturers (IDM), Kilopass has more than 80 customers in applications ranging from storage of firmware and security codes to calibration data and other application-critical information.  The company is headquartered in

Santa Clara

,

California

. For more information, please visit http://www.kilopass.com or email info@kilopass.com.