Judge Orders Kilopass to Pay Sidense $5.5 Million in Legal Fees and Costs for Baseless Patent Infringement Lawsuit

Update: Synopsys Expands DesignWare IP Portfolio with Acquisition of Sidense Corporation (Oct. 17, 2017)

Ottawa, Canada – (March 16, 2015) – Sidense Corp., a leading developer of non-volatile memory OTP IP cores, today announced that U.S. District Judge Susan Illston has ordered Kilopass Technology to pay Sidense $5.5 million for its “objectively baseless” patent infringement lawsuit initiated against Sidense in May of 2010. The fee recovery represents attorneys’ fees and associated costs.

Kilopass sued Sidense for patent infringement in May 2010. Sidense won this lawsuit in 2012, which was summarily affirmed on appeal. Sidense asked for an order directing Kilopass to pay Sidense’s attorney fees, but Judge Illston denied that motion. On appeal, after clarifying the applicable legal standard, the appeals court reversed and sent the matter back to Judge Illston for further proceedings in accordance with the clarified standard. Applying this clarified standard, after first ruling that Kilopass’s patent infringement claims had been “baseless” and that the patent lawsuit was “exceptional,” Judge Illston ordered Kilopass to pay Sidense $5.5 million in attorneys’ fees and expenses.

About Sidense Corp.

Sidense Corp. provides very dense, highly reliable and secure non-volatile one-time programmable (OTP) Logic Non-Volatile Memory (LNVM) IP for use in standard-logic CMOS processes. The Company, with over 120 patents granted or pending, licenses OTP memory IP based on its innovative one-transistor 1T-Fuse™ bit cell, which does not require extra masks or process steps to manufacture. Sidense 1T-OTP macros provide a better field-programmable, reliable and cost-effective solution than flash, mask ROM, eFuse and other embedded and off-chip NVM technologies for many code storage, encryption key, analog trimming and device configuration uses.

Over 130 companies, including many of the top fabless semiconductor manufacturers and IDMs, have adopted Sidense 1T-OTP as their NVM solution in more than 400 designs. Customers are realizing outstanding savings in solution cost and power consumption along with better security and reliability for applications ranging from mobile and consumer devices to high-temperature, high-reliability automotive and industrial electronics. The IP is offered at and supported by all top-tier semiconductor foundries and selected IDMs. Sidense is headquartered in Ottawa, Canada with sales offices worldwide. For more information, please visit www.sidense.com.