Innoscience Loses First Round of Semiconductor-Tech Trade Fight

Imports of Innoscience (Zhuhai) Technology Co.'s next-generation semiconductor devices are one step closer to being banned, as the US International Trade Commission issued a first-round decision finding they infringe a California-based company’s patent for technology increasingly used in applications including artificial intelligence.

Chief Administrative Law Judge Clark S. Cheney on Tuesday said Innoscience’s gallium nitride-based, or GaN-based, power semiconductor devices infringe Efficient Power Conversion Corp.'s US Patent No. 8,350,294, according to a notice issued July 5. Bloomberg Law estimates the patent will expire in August 2030. The trade judge also found Innoscience’s devices don’t infringe US Patent No. 8,404,508 ...