Goodix Sues Egis over Under-Display Fingerprint Patents Infringement

Digitimes: China-based Goodix sues Taiwan's Egis Technology over infringing on its patents of under-display optical fingerprint sensors. Goodix sensors are used in many smartphones manufactured in China, while Egis sensors are used mostly in Samsung smartphones. The lawsuit was filed in Beijing IP court. Goodix demands CNY50.5M (US$7.35M) in compensation from Egis.

"With five years of arduous, tireless and indigenous innovation, a dedicated R&D team of 400+ overcame great difficulties to bring to the world the innovative optical IN-DISPLAY FINGERRPINT SENSOR, which has been leading a technological trend in the global mobile industry since its debut in early 2017. As of today, the innovative technology has been adopted by 52 smartphone models offered by mainstream brands, benefiting hundreds of millions of worldwide consumers, and is recognized as the most popular biometric solution in the bezel-less era.

The precious achievement is a result of enormous investment and persistence – Goodix invests at least 10% of its revenue into research and development each year. In 2018, the number has reached 22.5%, with a compound growth rate of 80% in the past five years. As of June, 2019, Goodix had submitted over 3,300 patent filings and accumulated over 480 issued patents, among which, over 760 filings and 50 issued patents are parts of the optical IN-DISPLAY FINGERPRINT SENSOR technology.

The success of Goodix’s optical IN-DISPLAY FINGERPRINT SENSOR embodies the hard work of all employees of Goodix; yet the team’s painstaking effort was stolen by a competitor. IP theft is a disrespectful act towards enterprises that are dedicated to innovations. It is also a vandalism of the market order. Out of the responsibilities and accountabilities to the employees, customers, consumers, as well as the entire industry, Goodix will defend its legitimate rights and interests by the justice of law.

Together with industry partners and peers, Goodix Technology is looking forward to establishing a healthy and sustainable industry environment that respects innovations and intellectual property rights."

Last year, Goodix was involved in a couple of lawsuits on capacitive fingerprint sensors. Goodix sued its Chinese competitor Silead, while Goodix itself was sued by Sweden-based FCP. This year, the optical fingerprint sensors are becoming a field of legal battles.