Innoscience defeats infringement claims against innovative gallium nitride (GaN) power devices at the ITC

Finnegan achieved a comprehensive victory for Innoscience, a global leader in gallium nitride (GaN) power devices, in a high-profile patent dispute before the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC). The ITC’s Final Determination confirms that Innoscience avoided all patent claims asserted by Infineon—completely thwarting Infineon’s litigation efforts.

Innoscience is currently the world’s largest producer of GaN-on-silicon wafers and the global leader in GaN power device manufacturing. Infineon is a long-established semiconductor company that designs and manufactures silicon-based semiconductor device. With more customers turning to the next generation semiconductors such as gallium nitride (GaN), Infineon is also expanding into this nascent market. Infineon accused Innoscience, the leading manufacturer of GaN semiconductor wafers, of patent infringement in both U.S. and Germany. 

Infineon filed an ITC complaint alleging infringement of four U.S. patents. Finnegan promptly deployed a comprehensive defense strategy—challenging the asserted patents on non-infringement and invalidity grounds while simultaneously guiding Innoscience through a rapid design-around process to launch redesigned products that fully circumvent Infineon’s patents.   

Before trial, Infineon withdrew its claims on two of the four patents. Innoscience then requested the ALJ to adjudicate the remaining two patents—U.S. Patent Nos. 9,070,755 and 9,899,481—as applied to both its legacy and redesigned products. Infineon opposed, asking the ALJ to exclude the redesigned products from consideration.

The Commission’s Final Determination—affirming the ALJ’s Initial Determination—squarely rejected Infineon’s core litigation objectives. First, the Commission declined to review the ALJ’s finding of no infringement of the ’755 patent, and Infineon’s deadline to appeal that determination has now expired, rendering the finding final. Second, the Commission affirmed that Innoscience’s redesigned products—now its commercial offerings—fall outside the scope of the ’481 patent. Together, these rulings ensure Innoscience’s continued, uninterrupted access to the U.S. market and conclusively ends Infineon’s attempt to use the ITC to disrupt Innoscience’s business.