The dispute between Infineon Technologies and Innoscience over gallium nitride patents escalated from a single US district court filing into a multi-jurisdictional legal battle – and Infineon has now secured decisive rulings in its favour on both sides of the Atlantic and before the US trade regulator.
Gallium nitride (GaN) is a wide-bandgap semiconductor increasingly critical to modern power electronics. Its ability to switch faster, operate at higher voltages, and generate less heat than traditional silicon makes it a key enabling technology for electric vehicles, AI data centres, renewable energy systems, consumer electronics chargers, and industrial automation. Market analysts at Yole projected a compound annual growth rate of 49% in GaN power revenue, potentially reaching around $2 billion by 2028 – making control of the technology’s intellectual property enormously valuable.
Infineon, headquartered in Munich, has been investing in GaN for nearly two decades and holds one of the industry’s largest patent portfolios in the field – approximately 450 GaN patent families as of 2025, boosted significantly by its acquisition of GaN Systems Inc. in October 2023. Innoscience, founded in 2015 and based in Zhuhai, China, has emerged as an aggressive GaN competitor, with over 800 patent applications filed globally and a stated ambition to serve customers across data centres, smartphones, and power delivery applications.
March 2024: the opening shot
On 13th March 2024, Infineon Technologies initiated legal action against Innoscience, filing a lawsuit in the Central District of California’s district court. The suit sought a permanent injunction against Innoscience for alleged infringement of an Infineon-owned United States patent covering core aspects of GaN power semiconductors underpinning the reliability and performance of Infineon’s GaN devices.
Infineon contended that Innoscience had infringed the patent by manufacturing, using, selling, and importing into the United States a range of products including GaN transistors, with applications across automotive, data centres, solar energy, motor drives, consumer electronics, and other industrial and commercial fields.
Adam White, President of Infineon’s Power & Sensor Systems Division, stated that the company had nearly two decades of GaN experience and would vigorously protect its intellectual property in the interests of all customers and end users. It was not the first time Innoscience had faced such action: back in May 2023, Efficient Power Conversion (EPC) had also sued Innoscience in federal court and at the ITC for patent infringement, seeking damages and an import ban on a suite of GaN products.
March 2024: Innoscience pushes back
Just one week later, Innoscience issued a robust rebuttal. Innoscience firmly denounced the accusations, denying Infineon’s allegations of patent infringement as well as the validity of the Infineon patent itself, and stated it would vigorously defend itself.
Innoscience went further, challenging the quality of the patent at issue. The company alleged that the asserted patent had significant defects, and that even a cursory review of Infineon’s portfolio would reveal that the alleged invention was already disclosed in Infineon’s own earlier patents – raising concerns of potential fraud on the United States Patent and Trademark Office for failing to make proper disclosures during the patent’s prosecution.
Innoscience also sought to minimise the commercial impact of the suit, arguing that the lawsuit concerned only a small fraction of its packaged high-voltage (650–700V) GaN transistors and would not affect the vast majority of its other products, including unpackaged transistors and wafers, low-voltage transistors, and certain packaged transistors. The company emphasised its own innovation credentials, pointing to its 500-plus strong global R&D team and its goal of remaining a trusted partner to its customers.
June-July 2024: the battlefront widens
The dispute broadened considerably over the summer of 2024. On 4th June 2024, Infineon filed a corresponding lawsuit at the District Court Munich, Germany, with additional lawsuits also filed against distributors of Innoscience in Germany. Infineon successfully filed for a preliminary injunction, which the Munich court issued on 12th June 2024, obligating Innoscience to remove all infringing products from its booth at the international power electronics trade show PCIM Europe.
Then, on 23rd July 2024, Infineon expanded its US lawsuit, adding claims against Innoscience (Zhuhai) Technology Company, Ltd. and Innoscience America, Inc., based on the infringement of three additional GaN patents. Simultaneously, Infineon filed a complaint with the US International Trade Commission (USITC) covering all four patents at issue in the US district court proceedings.
August 2025: Munich rules for Infineon
The first full merits judgment arrived in Germany. The District Court Munich ruled in favour of Infineon in a first-instance patent infringement case, finding that Innoscience had infringed an Infineon patent through GaN products it was offering in Germany. As a result, Innoscience was prohibited from manufacturing, selling, or marketing the infringing products in Germany, and was required to pay damages to Infineon.
Johannes Schoiswohl, Senior Vice President and Head of Infineon’s GaN Systems Business Line, said the ruling was a testament to the strength of Infineon’s intellectual property and confirmed its commitment to vigorously defend its IP against infringement.
December 2025: the ITC issues a preliminary finding
The next major development came from Washington. In December 2025, the US International Trade Commission issued a preliminary ruling in favour of Infineon, finding that Innoscience had violated one Infineon patent relating to GaN technology and confirming the legal validity of both patents asserted in the case. A final ruling was expected on 2nd April 2026, with the potential to block US imports of Innoscience devices found to infringe Infineon’s intellectual property.
The ITC move followed other positive outcomes for Infineon in Germany, where the German patent office had recently upheld one of Infineon’s GaN patents in amended form, and where Infineon was continuing to pursue infringement claims before the Munich District Court.
May 2026: the ITC issues its final order
The most consequential development came in May 2026. According to Infineon’s press release, the US International Trade Commission issued its final ruling, ordering import and sales bans against Innoscience’s infringing GaN products in the United States – a landmark outcome that marks the culmination of more than two years of legal proceedings in Infineon’s favour.
June 2026: the final conclusion?
However, more recently, Innoscience announced a big win in China. China’s Supreme People’s Court has upheld the sales injunction against certain GaN products manufactured by Infineon. The ruling follows a 27th May judgment by the Intermediate People’s Court of Suzhou, which found that specified Infineon GaN products infringed an Innoscience patent covering GaN device technology. The court ordered Infineon to cease the sale, offer for sale, and importation of the infringing products in China and awarded Innoscience damages of RMB 10 million.
Infineon subsequently sought reconsideration from the Supreme People’s Court. The court has now upheld the lower ruling in full, leaving the injunction unchanged and making the decision final and enforceable.
With the Supreme Court’s decision, the case has reached a definitive conclusion in China. Certain Infineon GaN products covered by the ruling are now prohibited from being sold, offered for sale, or imported into the Chinese market.
But following on from that, just a few days later, the District Court Munich, Germany ruled in favour of Infineon in two further of the patent infringement cases – specifically one based on a patent on a utility model. With these rulings, the court prohibits Innoscience from manufacturing, selling, and marketing additional patent-infringing products in Germany. Furthermore, the court has ordered Innoscience to pay damages to Infineon.
This marks Innoscience’s third and fourth legal defeat in a series of court cases, despite its win in China, with courts and authorities in both Germany and the United States repeatedly concluding that Innoscience’s products infringe Infineon’s intellectual property rights.
“Today’s ruling demonstrates the value of our GaN portfolio and underscores our commitment to vigorously defending our intellectual property and promoting fair competition,” said Johannes Schoiswohl, Senior Vice President and Head of Infineon’s GaN Systems Business Line.
Innoscience’s current products not affected by rulings of Munich Regional Court
Following all of this, Innoscience announced that the Munich Regional Court has just issued a pair of rulings, from which it could be confirmed that Innoscience’s currently marketed GaN power device products fall outside the scope of Infineon’s asserted German patents and may be commercialised in Germany without restriction.
These rulings are fully consistent with the final determination issued last month by the U.S. International Trade Commission, which found that Innoscience’s current products do not infringe Infineon’s asserted U.S. patent relating to packaging design. The Munich case concerns the German counterparts of that same patent family.
In line with the ITC’s findings, the Munich Court found infringement only with respect to a limited set of legacy products (certain packaged 650–700V transistors) that had already been discontinued. Therefore, any injunction granted would not apply to Innoscience’s current product portfolio. As a result, there is no impact on Innoscience’s ongoing operations or its customers’ use of its products in Germany.
“The decisions mark another significant milestone in Innoscience’s string of favourable outcomes across major jurisdictions … Together, these rulings reaffirm the legality of Innoscience’s current product portfolio and its ability to operate freely in key global markets,” the company stated.
“While proceedings in Germany remain ongoing, including Innoscience’s invalidity challenges to the asserted German patent, the growing body of decisions across China, the United States, and Germany underscores that the global litigation campaign initiated by Infineon has not altered the competitive position of Innoscience’s core products. To the contrary, independent judicial findings across multiple jurisdictions have consistently validated the robustness of Innoscience’s technology and reinforced market confidence in the company’s product compliance and innovation capabilities.
“Innoscience remains committed to advancing its technology leadership and expanding its global footprint, delivering cutting-edge GaN solutions to customers worldwide in a fair and competitive marketplace.”
This article was updated on 23rd June to reflect the China’s Supreme People’s Court and the District Court Munich’s ruling.
