Markman Ruling Puts Sidense in Strong Position to Win Lawsuit

Update: Synopsys Expands DesignWare IP Portfolio with Acquisition of Sidense Corporation (Oct. 17, 2017)

After the court’s decision, in favor of Sidense, Kilopass asks for a 5 month trial delay

Ottawa, Canada - (Sept. 6, 2011) - Sidense Corp., a leading developer of Logic Non-Volatile Memory (LNVM) one-time programmable (OTP) memory IP cores, announced that on August 31, 2011, District Court Judge Honorable Susan Illston issued her patent claim construction ruling which, as expected, indicates that Kilopass should not be able to win its patent infringement lawsuit against Sidense.

Two days later, on September 2, 2011, Kilopass asked the court for a trial date delay of five months from its previously mutually agreed upon date of May 15, 2012. Sidense has been routinely responding to their discovery requests yet Kilopass complained that they need more time with discovery, two days after they received an unfavorable Markman ruling.

At the Claim Construction Hearing, of ten claim terms in dispute, the Honorable Judge Illston persuaded Kilopass to concede to two terms proposed by Sidense, and did not see the merit of construing one other term. She then defined seven terms, simplifying them for the jury and not taking any verbatim definitions from either party, except for one.

"We are pleased to receive Judge Illston's Claim Construction ruling," said Xerxes Wania, President and CEO of Sidense. "Consistent with past practice, Kilopass has issued press releases and e-mails spinning this ruling in their favor. In the ruling Judge Illston only took one of Kilopass’ definitions verbatim, all others were defined by Judge Illston, but Kilopass declares a landslide Markman victory. Also, Kilopass being the plaintiff should have enough information on Sidense’s technology after 17 months into this case, yet they ask the court to delay trial by an additional 5 months. They are losing the battle, and prolonging the inevitable."

"Kilopass will be unable to prove infringement,” said Mr. Wlodek Kurjanowicz, Founder and CTO of Sidense. “Kilopass claims that Sidense’s products have first and second doped semiconductor regions, but Sidense has only a single doped semiconductor region. Nonetheless, Kilopass is arguing that Sidense's Shallow Trench Isolation serves as a doped semiconductor region, and has tried to persuade the court to define semiconductor in a way that would cover an insulator. However, Judge Illston has instead defined both semiconductor and doped semiconductor region in a way that excludes an insulator. Since Sidense's Shallow Trench Isolation, is an insulator and not a semiconductor, it therefore cannot serve as a doped semiconductor region.”

For those who are interested in the merits of the infringement case and reasons why Judge Illston's Claim Construction ruling prevents Kilopass from proving infringement should visit Sidense’s website at www.sidense.com/legal

About Sidense Corp.

Sidense Corp. provides secure, very dense and reliable non-volatile, one-time programmable (OTP) memory IP for use in standard-logic CMOS processes with no additional masks or process steps required and no impact on product yield. The Company’s innovative one-transistor 1T-Fuse™ architecture provides the industry’s smallest footprint, most reliable and lowest power Logic Non-Volatile Memory (NVM) IP solution. With over 70 patents granted or pending, Sidense OTP provides a field-programmable alternative solution to Flash, mask ROM and eFuse in many OTP and MTP applications.

Sidense SiPROM, SLP and ULP memory products, embedded in over 160 customer designs, are available from 180nm down to 40nm and are scalable to 28nm and below. The IP is offered at and has been adopted by all top-tier semiconductor foundries and selected IDMs. Customers are using Sidense OTP for analog trimming, code storage, encryption keys such as HDCP, WHDI, RFID and Chip ID, medical, automotive, and configurable processors and logic.   For more information, please visit www.sidense.com.