MRSI files patent infringement lawsuit against Palomar

Taking action against what it asserts is pervasive and repeated infringement of four separate US patents it owns, MRSI Systems LLC of North Billerica, MA, USA (which makes fully automated, high-precision high-speed die bonding and epoxy dispensing systems) has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against photonics and microelectronic device assembly & packaging equipment maker Palomar Technologies Inc of Carlsbad, CA, USA in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California.

The suit alleges that Palomar’s die, wire and wedge bonder products infringe MRSI’s US Patent Nos. 7,324,710 ‘Method and Device for Determining Nominal Data for Electronic Circuits by Capturing a Digital Image and Compare with Stored Nominal Data’, 9,032,611 ‘Apparatus for Generating Patterns on Workpieces’, 9,648,795 ‘Pick-and-Place Tool’ and 7,109,510 ‘Method and Apparatus for Aligning a Substrate on a Stage’. These patents cover core functionalities used in Palomar’s main product lines. International law firm Crowell & Moring LLP filed the suit on behalf of MRSI.

MRSI’s key markets include telecom/datacom (data center), aerospace & defense, medical devices, computers and peripherals, and industrial.

“As parts get smaller and accuracies and volumes increase, value-based solutions providing superior performance is becoming extremely critical for leading companies worldwide, and our precision products are regarded as industry benchmarks, based on our own proprietary technology,” claims Cyriac Devasia, MRSI’s VP engineering.

“We pride ourselves as a leading innovation company that will thoroughly enforce its patent rights to protect our on-going investment in groundbreaking, high-speed, highly accurate and reliable placement technology and capabilities,” says president Michael Chalsen. “Palomar’s continued infringement of our protected technology must stop, and we found no alternative but to bring this lawsuit to protect our intellectual property.”

MRSI has also continued to challenge an ongoing patent lawsuit filed by Palomar in 2015 in Southern California that MRSI successfully transferred to its home district court in Boston, Massachusetts in 2018 (Palomar Technologies Inc vs MRSI Systems LLC, Case No. 1:18-cv-10236-FDS (D. Mass.)). MRSI maintains that the Palomar’s US Patent No. 6,776,327 asserted in that lawsuit is invalid on numerous grounds, including because the patent claims are directed to ineligible subject matter, and are invalid in light of prior art as well as MRSI’s marketing and sales of the relevant technology in its own products many years before Palomar filed for its invalid patent. MRSI previously invalidated one of Palomar’s three independent claims through the Inter Partes Review process before the US Patent & Trademark Office.

“MRSI will continue to aggressively defend itself in the ongoing litigation in Boston, and has already filed numerous motions addressing discovery violations by Palomar in connection with that litigation,” says Brian Paul Gearing Ph.D., an IP litigation partner in Crowell & Moring’s New York office and lead counsel for MRSI in both litigations. “MRSI will also seek its attorneys’ fees from Palomar by showing that Palomar repeatedly engaged in misconduct throughout its meritless lawsuit brought against MRSI,” he adds.

Tags: Die Bonder Palomar

Visit: www.mrsisystems.com

Visit: www.palomartechnologies.com