AUSTIN, Texas - July 27, 1999 - Cirrus Logic Inc. (NASDAQ:CRUS) today confirmed that its Crystal Semiconductor division has been awarded $20 million in damages following its successful patent infringement suit against OPTi Inc. (Milpitas, Calif.), TriTech Microelectronics Pte Ltd. (Singapore) and TriTech Microelectronics International, Inc. (San Jose, Calif.).
In a record judgment for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, presiding Judge Sam Sparks entered a multi-million dollar damage award plus post- judgment interest against each of the defendants. While reducing the jury's damages award, the Court denied defendants requests for new trial, granted Crystal's request to find that this case was exceptional, and exercised its discretion in favor of Crystal to enhance the compensatory damages.
The suit involved Cirrus Logic's popular Delta Sigma technology, which plays a key role in the conversion of analog signals from sources such as microphones and sensors into the digital data streams utilized by audio products, modems, and other digital systems. In supporting the jury's determination, the judge reaffirmed the validity of the Delta Sigma patents and the determination that the TriTech defendants willfully infringed them.
Supporting the jury's verdict of willful patent infringement against the TriTech defendants, the Court doubled the base damage award and awarded attorney fees and costs. The Court stated that "the willfulness issue was not close, even considering the 'clear and convincing' burden on Crystal" and further stated that an "ostrich defense does not work to avoid a willful infringement finding." In addition, the Court issued an immediate permanent injunction and ordered the defendants to identify all customers to whom the infringing products have been sold since February 12, 1999.
"We believe this judgment highlights the strength of our intellectual property, specifically as it supports our strategic focus on high-performance analog and mixed- signal integration for embedded applications," said David French, president and CEO of Cirrus Logic. "We hold more than 870 United States patents (issued and pending), and over 50 of them involve our proprietary Delta Sigma technology." He declared that Cirrus Logic would continue to vigorously assert its rich patent portfolio against infringing competitors to protect its markets.
The infringing products from the OPTi and TriTech defendants were sold into the audio IC market, where Cirrus Logic is the acknowledged leader. In the just published market research report from Forward Concepts (Tempe, Arizona), Cirrus Logic was named the overall market leader in the $1.6 billion 1998 market for audio ICs. Forward Concepts estimates this market - which encompasses personal computer, consumer and professional segments - will grow at a compounded annual rate of 18% to the $3.6 billion level by 2003.
The suit against OPTi and TriTech asserted infringement of U.S. Patent Nos. 4,746,899; 4,851,841; and 5,220,483. The infringing OPTi/TriTech products are AC97- compatible, serial, and parallel audio codec devices. (AC97 is an Intel specification relating to computer audio systems.) Cirrus Logic confirmed that it is well positioned to provide customers of OPTi and TriTech with equivalent devices for each of the infringing devices listed below:
28021 C02; 28023; 28025 April B; 28026; 28027B Midas; 28029; 60102; 60103; 60104 A, B01; 60105 A, B, C01, C02; 60107 (a.k.a. 88015d); 60109; 60111; 60301 (a.k.a. OPTi 930); 60302 A02, B05, B06, B07 (a.k.a. OPTi 931); 60304 (a.k.a. OPTi 933); 61401; 83100 B02, C01; 88014; 88015 A, B, C; 88017 A01; 88018 A01; 88019 A01 (a.k.a. 61301); 88020 A02, B01 (a.k.a. 60303 and OPTi 916); 88021 A02, B01; 88025 A02; and 88200 (all revisions); 88802 A01, A02 (a.k.a. 88801).
Cirrus Logic is a premier supplier of high-performance analog circuits and advanced mixed-signal chip solutions. The company's products, sold under its own name and the Crystal product brand, enable system-level applications in mass storage, audio and precision data conversion. Additional information about Cirrus Logic is available at www.cirrus.com.
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