Another Sidense Win against Kilopass in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

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

Attorney fee issue sent back to district court to determine if Kilopass pursued baseless patent infringement claims against Sidense

Ottawa, Canada – January 8, 2014 – Sidense Corp., a leading developer of non-volatile memory OTP IP cores, today announced that a panel of judges in the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit instructed the District Court for the Northern District of California to reconsider its ruling denying Sidense an award of the attorney’s fees it incurred in successfully defending the patent infringement lawsuit filed against it by Kilopass Technology Inc. Because this decision has liberalized the legal standard for recovery of attorney fees, it has received extensive attention in the media.

“This latest Federal Circuit decision once again confirms what we have said since the day Kilopass filed this meritless lawsuit against us in May of 2010,” said Xerxes Wania, Sidense President and CEO. “Competition should happen in the marketplace, not the courts. As a result of the lawsuit, in order to defend ourselves and our customers, Sidense was forced to incur substantial legal fees and expenses, which we expect to recoup from Kilopass. This is an excellent result for Sidense and a clear warning to patent holders that abusive patent litigation will not be tolerated by the courts.”

Characterizing this landmark decision, Roger Cook, litigation counsel for Sidense and partner at Kilpatrick, Townsend and Stockton said, “Fee shifting in patent cases is receiving attention not just from the Federal Circuit but also from the U.S. Congress and U.S. Supreme Court. Attorney fee awards to compensate prevailing patent infringement defendants for the cost of defending baseless patent infringement claims have been rare out of concern that such awards might also inhibit meritorious patent enforcement. The Federal Circuit’s decision strikes a well-reasoned middle ground, allowing district courts to punish abusive patent infringement claimants without chilling legitimate patent infringement claims.”

About Sidense Corp.

Sidense Corp. provides very dense, highly reliable and secure non-volatile one-time programmable (OTP) Logic Non-Volatile Memory (LNVM) IP for use in standard-logic CMOS processes. The Company, with over 115 patents granted or pending, licenses OTP memory IP based on its innovative one-transistor 1T-Fuse™ bit cell, which does not require extra masks or process steps to manufacture. Sidense 1T-OTP macros provide a better field-programmable, reliable and cost-effective solution than flash, mask ROM, eFuse and other embedded and off-chip NVM technologies for many code storage, encryption key, analog trimming and device configuration uses.

Over 110 companies, including many of the top fabless semiconductor manufacturers and IDMs, have adopted Sidense 1T-OTP as their NVM solution for more than 350 designs. Customers are realizing outstanding savings in solution cost and power consumption along with better security and reliability for applications ranging from mobile and consumer devices to high-temperature, high-reliability automotive and industrial electronics. The IP is offered at and supported by all top-tier semiconductor foundries and selected IDMs. Sidense is headquartered in Ottawa, Canada with sales offices worldwide. For more information, please visit www.sidense.com.