Power Integrations granted injunction against Fairchild

The injunction takes effect immediately; the list of Fairchild products subject to the injunction is as follows:

The court’s order also provides that any additional Fairchild products that include the infringing “integrated frequency jitter” and/or “saw limiter” features are also subject to the injunction. The court ordered Fairchild to provide notification of the injunction to all customers, distributors and other third parties that have purchased the infringing products. Financial damages stemming from the infringement are to be determined in a future court proceeding.

The ruling is the latest in a number of decisions relating to the infringement of Power Integrations’ patents by Fairchild and its System General (SG) subsidiary. In 2006, Fairchild was found to infringe four of Power Integrations’ patents, resulting in a permanent injunction against more than 100 infringing Fairchild products. The court later found the infringement to be willful, describing Fairchild’s behavior as “blatant copying.” Earlier this year, Fairchild was ordered to undergo third-party monitoring after being found to have violated the injunction.

In 2006, the International Trade Commission found that SG infringed two of Power Integrations’ patents and later issued an exclusion order barring the infringing products from the U.S. market. And earlier this year in a Federal District Court in California, a jury found that Fairchild willfully infringed two of Power Integrations’ patents and awarded Power Integrations $105 million in damages. Power Integrations is also seeking a permanent injunction against the approximately 140 Fairchild products implicated in that decision, and any other products containing the infringing features, known as “frequency reduction” (referred to by Fairchild as “Green Mode”) and “externally adjustable current limit.” Some of the parts found to infringe in California are already subject to the injunction issued yesterday by the Delaware Court.

Balu Balakrishnan, President and CEO, Power Integrations, commented: “This latest ruling is another important step in our ongoing efforts to stop Fairchild’s blatant disregard for our intellectual-property rights. Fairchild has been found to infringe our patents on four separate occasions, including repeated violations of the same patents. We hope that today’s ruling and other recent decisions will help bring about an end to Fairchild’s unlawful behavior.”