Amperex Technology (ATL) (1:23-cv-00272) has asked the Eastern District of Virginia for a declaratory judgment of noninfringement of a single patent held by Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd. (SEL) through the provision of certain lithium ion batteries. The patent generally relates to a lithium battery with an electrode that incorporates certain material, with Amperex pleading that SEL “has communicated with ATL representatives and via other channels without the protection of an NDA, including in January and February 2023, to discuss the licensing of SEL patents”, including the patent now in suit. The new complaint drops as SEL’s April 2023 trial in a Central District of California case that it filed against TCL back in March 2021 faces a delay.

In late March, Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd. (SEL) filed a second suit in what appears to be its first US patent litigation campaign in roughly eight years. Last June, the plaintiff sued BOE Technology Group and Lenovo (Motorola Mobility), accusing the former of manufacturing allegedly infringing displays incorporated into smartphones, including the latter’s Motorola RAZR. January 2021 saw that case end in a settlement with BOE and a covenant not to sue Motorola Mobility. SEL has now accused TCL China Star Optoelectronics Technology (CSOT) of infringement (8:21-cv-00554) through the provision of display panels for smartphones, of TCL and, again, of Motorola Mobility but this time not naming the Lenovo subsidiary as a defendant.