EPC lawsuit update: Innoscience defeats ’508 Patent at ITC

No violation was found on claim one (the only asserted claim) of the ’508 patent. This is a huge success at the ITC for Innoscience.

According to the ITC’s initial determination, the Chief Administrative Law Judge found no violation as to the ’508 patent, which is directed towards a method of forming an enhancement mode GaN transistor. Meaning Innoscience had complete success in overcoming EPC’s ’508 patent.

The Chief Administrative Law Judge found violation as to the ’294 patent. Innoscience disagrees with the Administrative Law Judge at least because the ‘294 patent is invalid. Indeed, the USPTO instituted an inter partes review challenging all claims of the ’294 patent under four different grounds and has agreed with Innoscience’s invalidity arguments. The ’294 IPR decision will issue in March 2025.

In fact, the ’508 and ’294 patents asserted by EPC are currently under review by the USPTO. Claims one-12 of the ’294 patent and claims one-five of the ’508 patent are challenged as obvious in view of the prior art. Innoscience also challenged at the USPTO two additional EPC patents, which EPC previously asserted at the ITC but later decided to withdraw. While EPC withdrew these patents from the ITC, Innoscience maintained its challenges of these patents at the USPTO.

In all four EPC patents originally asserted by EPC, the USPTO has concluded that “there is a reasonable likelihood that Petitioner [Innoscience] would prevail with respect to at least one of the claims challenged in the Petition.” Innoscience has achieved, via the preliminary decisions, a perfect four-for-four record at the USPTO.

The ITC’s decision further confirms EPC’s lawsuits against Innoscience are misguided. EPC continues to struggle in its meritless attacks on Innoscience. In all four USPTO rulings, three judges from the USPTO have initially agreed with Innoscience, that the EPC patents that Innoscience challenged at the USPTO are invalid. In all four proceedings, Innoscience has described multiple reasons why the four EPC patents are invalid, and for virtually every argument on invalidity, the USPTO initially agreed. Next, the USPTO will receive additional briefing and make final determinations by 26^th March 2025.

The briefing schedule for petitions for review of the final initial determination includes a 19^th July  2024, deadline for filing petitions and a July 29 deadline for responding to petitions. The target date for this investigation is 5^th November 2024.

Innoscience is confident that it will achieve a complete victory in the dispute with EPC.