ITC Bars Import of Innoscience Chips Made Before Redesign

The U.S. International Trade Commission has issued a limited exclusion order barring the importation of certain gallium nitride semiconductor products made by Innoscience prior to an approved redesign, concluding a Section 337 investigation involving GaN power device technology. 

Finnegan attorney Lionel Lavenue, who represents Innoscience, characterized the commission’s final determination as a favorable outcome for his client. “We view the ITC’s final determination as a decisive victory,” Lionel said, emphasizing that the commission confirmed Innoscience’s current GaN products do not infringe and that the redesigned products fall outside the scope of the asserted patent claims. 

The investigation was initiated based on allegations that Innoscience infringed a patent relating to high‑performance GaN semiconductor technology. While the administrative law judge found infringement as to certain legacy products, the judge separately determined that redesigned products did not infringe, a conclusion reflected in the commission’s final opinion. 

Lionel noted that the ITC’s decision further narrowed the scope of the asserted intellectual property. “Even more favorable for Innoscience, the commission’s final determination invalidated four additional claims of the patent,” he said, leaving only two claims intact and only as applied to discontinued products. According to Lionel, this outcome renders the exclusion order commercially insignificant. 

From an ITC perspective, the decision underscores the importance of redesign strategies in Section 337 investigations and highlights how parallel validity determinations can substantially limit the practical impact of exclusionary relief on current products. 

Read ITC Bars Import Of Innoscience Chips Made Before Redesign