News: Microelectronics
30 June 2022
US Patent Office denies ST’s petition to invalidate Purdue SiC patent
Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN, USA says that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board at the US Patent and Trademark Office has denied STMicroelectronics’ challenge to the patentability of its US patent 7,498,633 involving silicon carbide (SiC).
Purdue says that the patent covers technology invented by James Cooper and his graduate student/postdoc Asmita Saha. The denied petition was filed by STMicroelectronics in response to Purdue’s patent infringement lawsuit and was an attempt to invalidate the patent and hence stop the litigation.
“It means that the patent office has examined the prior art cited by STMicro and has ruled that it does not even raise a legitimate question of patentability,” says Ken Waite, chief patent counsel & director of intellectual property at the Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization. “This is an excellent result, as the majority of such requests are granted by the patent office, resulting in a proceeding that can, and often does, invalidate a granted US patent,” he adds.
The Office of Technology Commercialization serves as a great steward for intellectual property created by researchers at all Purdue University campuses, comments Brooke Beier, senior VP of commercialization at the Purdue Research Foundation. “We take managing and protecting Purdue IP very seriously throughout the process from the initial invention disclosure by Purdue researchers through vetting, marketing, licensing it to established companies and startups and beyond,” she adds. “We follow the letter of the law through each step, holding ourselves and others accountable.”
