Power Integrations, Inc. v. Fairchild Semiconductor International, Inc., No. 15-1329 (Fed. Cir. 2016)
Annotate this CasePower Integrations and Fairchild are direct competitors in the power supply controller chip market. They have engaged in a long-running and multi-fronted patent dispute. Power’s patents claim circuits that “jitter”— or vary—the frequency of the controller chip’s oscillator to reduce the amount of electromagnetic interference the switched-mode power supply (having “on” and “off” states) generates. The Federal Circuit affirmed: the jury’s verdict that the asserted claims of the 876 patent were not anticipated; the verdict that the asserted claims of the 972 patent would not have been obvious; and the court’s construction that the asserted claims of the 972 patent require “sampling a voltage from the auxiliary winding of the transformer when the transformer is discharging.” The court vacated the verdict that Fairchild induced asserted claims of the 876 and 851 patents, finding that the district court’s jury instruction incorrectly stated the law on inducement. The court reversed verdicts that the asserted claims of the 605 patent were not anticipated and that Power Integrations infringed the asserted claims of the 972 patent under the doctrine of equivalents.
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