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West Texas Jury Returns Verdict for Purdue University
Patent Litigation Feature
A Western District of Texas jury has returned a verdict for The Trustees of Purdue University (d/b/a Purdue University) and against STMicro, awarding Purdue $32.5M as a “Running Royalty through December 31, 2022”. The jury found STMicro to have infringed (directly and by inducement) two claims from a single semiconductor fabrication patent aimed at certain SiC (Silicon Carbide) power MOSFETs (metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors). Per the jury, the claims were not proven invalid and Purdue complied with its marking requirements. District Judge Alan D. Albright has set this week for the first posttrial hearing, on December 12.
December 6, 2023
Purdue University Hits Revamped Wolfspeed in Second Case in Semiconductor Campaign
New Patent Litigation
The Trustees of Purdue University (d/b/a Purdue University) have added a second case to their litigation campaign targeting SiC MOSFETs (silicon carbide metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors), begun this past summer with a Western District of Texas suit against STMicro. The new defendant is Wolfspeed (f/k/a Cree) (1:21-cv-00840), sued in the Middle District of North Carolina over the same two patents, developed by Purdue University faculty and students. The plaintiff pleads awareness of one or more of the asserted patents based on the defendant’s own prosecution activities before the USPTO, as well as through an April 2021 “notice letter”.
November 13, 2021
Role of Sovereign Immunity in Latest Purdue University Suit, Against STMicro, Remains to Be Seen
New Patent Litigation
The Trustees of Purdue University (d/b/a Purdue University) have kicked off a second active litigation campaign, accusing STMicro (6:21-cv-00727) of infringing two semiconductor fabrication patents through the provision of SiC (Silicon Carbide) power MOSFETs (metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors). The chosen venue, the Western District of Texas, marks a shift from the early days of Purdue’s last lawsuit, filed in the Northern District of Indiana, in which the university initially resisted transfer to the Northern District of Illinois under a theory of state sovereign immunity, also invoked in an attempt to block a patent-eligibility challenge to the patent asserted there.
July 14, 2021
Purdue University Pleads Sovereign Immunity in New Complaint Against Omron
Purdue University, through its trustees, has filed suit against Omron (Omron Healthcare) (4:17-cv-00099), alleging infringement through the provision of certain blood pressure monitors. The asserted patent, generally related to an “oscillometric, noninvasive blood pressure monitor”, was developed by Dr. Leslie A. Geddes, a Purdue bioengineering professor awarded the National Medal of Technology by President George W. Bush in 2006, along with his graduate student Dr. Rebecca A. Roeder. Purdue pleads that, as an “instrumentality of the State of Indiana”, it “enjoys sovereign immunity” and that “Purdue does not consent to the jurisdiction of any other forum for proceedings related to the patent-in-suit” (emphasis in the original).
December 16, 2017