GigOptix Inc of San Jose, CA, USA (a fabless supplier of analog semiconductor and optical components for optical fiber and wireless networks) says that it has reviewed the complaint for patent infringement filed against it by M/A-COM Technology Solutions Inc of Lowell, MA, USA (which manufactures semiconductors, components, and subassemblies for RF, microwave and millimeter-wave applications) and will be filing a response with the US District Court for the Northern District of California.
GigOptix notes that the complaint references a December 2008 lawsuit filed in the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, California ('Pacific Wave Industries Inc. v. University of Southern California') which named GigOptix's subsidiary Lumera Corp as a defendant. GigOptix says that neither it nor Lumera has any knowledge of such earlier lawsuit, and records of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, California contain no proof of service of the lawsuit on Lumera, but do contain a filing by plaintiff Pacific Wave Industries stating that it had not served Lumera. Shortly after making that filing, in June 2009, plaintiff Pacific Wave Industries dismissed Lumera as a defendant and also dismissed the entirety of the lawsuit, says GigOptix.
According to the records of the US Patent and Trademark Office, Pacific Wave Industries executed on 10 August a written assignment to MACOM of the two patents at issue in the MACOM complaint, just as the Superior Court of Santa Clara County, California was continuing from 26 August to 23 September for administrative reasons the trial date in the lawsuit brought by GigOptix against MACOM, its subsidiary Optomai Inc, and three of GigOptix' former employees for misappropriation of confidential information and trade secrets and breach of the contractual and legal obligations to GigOptix of the former employees, and while certain of the individuals named as defendants by GigOptix are being investigated also by the US Attorneys' Office for the Northern District of California.
GigOptix says that it does not believe that Pacific Wave Industries ever developed products practicing the claims in the two patents, and is unaware of MACOM having any such or related developments or products in the marketplace, more so during the few weeks since their assignment.
In light of MACOM's assertion that it has made an 'investment in innovation', GigOptix expects that there will be discovery regarding MACOM's intention in acquiring these two patents and the contribution of them to the enrichment of its 'innovation' portfolio.
GigOptix says that it will continue to review the two patents at issue in the complaint filed by MACOM. However, while GigOptix is continuing its investigation, and recognizing that the outcome is not presently known, in light of the initial discovered facts, the claims and the products, GigOptix does not believe that MACOM's actions will have any material impact on its financial position
