Soitec prevails in patent infringement lawsuit against MEMC

BERNIN, FRANCE: Soitec has successfully obtained confirmation from Court that MEMC did infringe one of Soitec's SOI patents from end of 2004 until mid 2006 and now believes it has adequate grounds to claim for compensation.

Concurrently, the Court ruled that only 15 early-stage Soitec prototype BSOI wafers did infringe one claim of a MEMC patent. Therefore, Soitec believes that this ruling supports its overall claim against MEMC.

On Tuesday, November 2, a Wilmington, Delaware United States Federal Court jury determined that United States Patent No. 6,809,009 (the '009 Patent) was validly issued. Following the jury verdict, the United States District Judge presiding over the trial determined MEMC had failed to prove that the '009 Patent was unenforceable.

Earlier rulings by the Court had forced MEMC to acknowledge that its SOI manufacturing process had infringed the '009 Patent for slightly less than two years, between late 2004 and mid-2006. Accordingly, the '009 patent has now been adjudicated valid, enforceable, and infringed by MEMC.

The lawsuit now proceeds to the phase in which the Court and a jury will respectively determine the injunctive and monetary relief to which Soitec is entitled. The Company believes that with the now established infringement it is in a position to seek adequate relief, which will in any case be finally decided by the jury, irrespective of the fact that the infringing process was used or not by MEMC for commercial production. No schedule has been set for the remedy phase of the proceeding.

The jury also determined that certain BSOI wafers sold by the company in the United States infringed one claim of United States Patent No. 5,834,812 (the '812 Patent) and that the infringed claim was valid.

The evidence at trial related to two shipments of 80 prototype BSOI wafers, one in 2007 and one in 2008. Of the 80 wafers, MEMC acknowledged that 65 did not infringe the '812 Patent. The revenue associated with the 15 remaining wafers totalled approximately $5,000.

Earlier rulings in the case had established that the '812 Patent is inapplicable to Soitec's product line. No products other than the company's BSOI products have been accused of infringement. The prototype wafers shipped in 2007 and 2008 have not gone into production, none have been sold or offered for sale in the United States since 2008, and the company has no plans concerning future manufacture of this product.

As reported in Soitec's prior release, earlier rulings by the Court also narrowed the scope of certain of the patent claims asserted in the case, and determined that certain claims in certain additional patents in Soitec's portfolio were either invalid or not infringed. Soitec believes these rulings to have been incorrect.

The next step in the process as to these issues will be the review of the District Court decisions by the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Soitec believes that its infringement claims against MEMC's current SOI process should ultimately be upheld and that MEMC's current process should ultimately be determined to infringe valid claims of the patents that have been asserted in this case.

Regardless of how the issues relating to the specific patent claims at issue in the MEMC lawsuit are finally settled by the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Soitec's product line remains as of this date, the one enjoying the most complete patent protection worldwide.