MEMC successful in SOI patent infringement suit

ST. PETERS, USA: MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. announced that it has received a successful outcome in its litigation with Soitec regarding Silicon On Insulator (SOI) wafers. As a result, MEMC continues to have complete freedom to produce and sell SOI wafers using MEMC's current processes.

"We are pleased with the court's ruling that MEMC's current SOI processes do not infringe on the Soitec patents asserted in this litigation," said Brad Kohn, MEMC's senior VP and General Counsel. "MEMC's focus, as always, is on our customers, and the successful resolution of this portion of our litigation with Soitec removes a potential distraction."

Background
On May 19, 2008, Soitec filed a suit against MEMC alleging infringement of four patents – the 'Bruel' patent and three 'Aspar' patents, including patent number 6,809,009 (the '009 patent). MEMC countersued Soitec for infringement of one of MEMC's patent, patent number 5,834,812 (the '812 patent).

Rulings
On October 13, 2010, the United States District Court for the District of Delaware ruled that the four Soitec patents were either invalid or not infringed by MEMC's current process or products and that MEMC's claims of infringement against Soitec under the '812 patent could proceed to trial.

On November 2, 2010, the jury returned its verdict that MEMC's '812 patent is valid and has been infringed by certain Soitec wafers. As it relates to certain wafers produced by MEMC for R&D purposes between 2004-2006, the jury also ruled that claim 4 of Soitec's '009 patent is valid, which means that it is also infringed by those old research and development efforts.

"We are gratified that the jury has validated our claims and found that none of MEMC's current processes infringe upon Soitec's patents," commented Shaker Sadasivam, EVP of MEMC and president of MEMC Semiconductor Materials.

"Regarding the '009 patent, while we're disappointed that this last issue in the case did not go our way, the finding relates to a defunct process that hasn't been used by MEMC in several years, and was never used for commercial production. It does not impact any current MEMC products or processes. We look forward to serving our customers with the same processes that we always have, and giving them some of the best products and service in the industry."