Monday, March 04, 2019

SiOnyx vs Hamamatsu Lawsuit

It came to my attention that, some time ago, Sionyx sued Hamamatsu for using and patenting its technology:

"Plaintiff SiOnyx, LLC alleges that it approached defendant Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. (“HPK”) concerning a potential business partnership involving the technology. The parties entered into a nondisclosure agreement and SiOnyx provided HPK with certain technical information.

SiOnyx alleges that after the approach proved unsuccessful, HPK violated the nondisclosure agreement, obtained patents on SiOnyx’s technology without naming SiOnyx personnel as inventors, and infringed other patents held by SiOnyx. HPK contends that its engineers independently developed the technology contained in its patents and practiced by its products, and that it does not infringe SiOnyx’s patents.
"

The court in part granted and in part denied SiOnyx claims.

Update: Here is the letter I received from the Hamamasu lawyer:

"Via Electronic Mail to image.sensors.world@gmail.com
Mr. Vladimir Koifman
....
....

Re: SiOnyx, LLC, et al. v. Hamamatsu Photonics K.K., et al.,
Civil Action No. 1:15-cv-13488-FDS

Dear Mr. Koifman:

I represent Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. and Hamamatsu Corporation. A March 4 post on your blog “Image Sensors World” entitled, “SiOnyx vs Hamamatsu Lawsuit” was recently brought to my attention.

The last line of the post in particular (“The court in part granted and in part denied SiOnyx claims”) is factually and legally inaccurate. The case is ongoing and trial is scheduled to begin next month. To date, SiOnyx has not yet obtained any favorable final ruling on the merits of the claims set forth in its complaint. The order to which the blog post links is a summary judgment order that decided only whether certain discrete issues are allowed to proceed to trial.

As I’m sure you understand, our client is concerned that your post gives the false impression that it has already been found liable for certain of SiOnyx’s claims. We therefore request that you at least modify the relevant blog post to remove the last line, if not remove it completely.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Best regards,

John D. Simmons
"

1 comment:

  1. Interesting, it's not like for a Japanese company to steal technology.

    ReplyDelete

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