Electronics company fights NPE in “weakest ever” patent case

Electronics manufacturer Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has gone on the offensive against non-practising entity (NPE) Zond over alleged patent infringement.

TSMC was hit with a lawsuit from the NPE in 2013, when it was alleged to have infringed several patents covering semi-conductor devices.

Court proceedings have been stayed because the patents are subject to a review at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), but TSMC has requested a declaratory judgment that it did not infringe the patents.

That declaratory judgment was filed on June 8 at the US District Court for the District of Delaware.

Zond had filed seven suits against nine different technology companies, including Fujitsu, Intel and Toshiba, in a ‘one-size-fits-all’ patent case.

But major concerns about the patents were revealed at the most recent hearing between Zond and Fujitsu in November, where one judge stated that “in terms of pleading, I think this ... is about the weakest patent case I’ve ever seen”.

Both TSMC and Zond are still awaiting the result of the PTAB review.