SmartSens kindly sent me an official update on Omnivision lawsuit against Smartsens:
"SHANGHAI, June 25, 2018 – SmartSens, a leading provider of high-performance CMOS image sensors, responded to its patent infringement lawsuit today.
With regard to the recent lawsuit that accused SmartSens of infringing patents No. 200510052302.4 (titled “CMOS Image Sensor Using Shared Transistors between Pixels”) and No. 200680019122.9 (titled “Pixel with Symmetrical Field Effect Transistor Placement”), the Patent Reexamination Board of State Intellectual Property Office of the People’s Republic of China has ruled the two patents in question invalid.
According to the relevant judicial interpretation of the Supreme People’s Court, the infringement case regarding the above-mentioned patents will be dismissed.
“As a company researching, developing and utilizing technology, we pay due respect to intellectual property. However, we will not yield to any false accusations and misuse of intellectual property law,” said SmartSens CTO Yaowu Mo, Ph.D. “SmartSens will take legal measures to not only defend the company and its property, but also protect our partners’ and clients’ interest. SmartSens attributes its success to our talent and intellectual property. In this case, we are pleased to see that justice is served and a law-abiding company like SmartSens is protected.”
Thus far, SmartSens has applied for more than 100 patents, of which 75 were submitted in China and more than 20 have been granted. More than 30 patent applications were submitted in the United States, and more than 20 have been granted.
About SmartSens
SmartSens Technology Co., Ltd, a leading supplier of high-performance CMOS imaging systems, was founded by Richard Xu, Ph.D. in 2011. SmartSens’ R&D teams in Silicon Valley and Shanghai develop industry-leading image sensing technology and products. The company receives strong support from strategic partners and an ISO-Certified supply chain infrastructure, and delivers award-winning imaging solutions for security and surveillance, consumer products, automotive and other mass market applications."
The issue is that when omnivision published their 5M sensor, Smartsens also published their in the same time, which changes to same process and function as omnivision. And after one month, this CTO just jumped from omnivision to smartsens and also brings his team.
ReplyDeleteBut of course, evidence is hard to find if omnivision do not realized before this person gone.
cannot agree more
DeleteInteresting backyard story this is.
ReplyDeleteWhat does this mean outside of China? There were equivalent patents in other jurisdictions, the Chinese patent office can't render those invalid.
ReplyDeleteOn LinkedIn, Yaowu Mo is still director of product design at OV.
ReplyDeleteI suggest Omnivision to focus more on their own products rather than this kind of despicable patent trolling.
ReplyDeleteAt least OVT can correct their bloated QE value, or hire someone with basic ideas of pn junction to lead the process department.
ReplyDeleteI am not an expert in this field, but does this mean SmartSens will go bankrupt eventually?
ReplyDeleteMaybe morally bankrupt.... I'm sure the Chinese government can artificially prop them up. It's the wild west in China, hard for any US/EU/JP company to compete there.
ReplyDeleteActually OV now is also a Chinese company...
ReplyDelete