Cypress Intends to Vigorously Defend Patent Lawsuit Filed by Avago Technologies

Cypress Semiconductor Corp. has announced that it will vigorously defend itself in a patent lawsuit filed by Avago Technologies, Inc. The lawsuit, filed on January 21 in the Federal District Court of Delaware, alleges that Cypress’s well-received OvationONS™ optical navigation technology infringes on Avago’s intellectual property. The OvationONS technology enables finger navigation in handheld devices.

Cypress will show at trial that its technology is fundamentally different than the technology covered in Avago’s patents. In fact, Cypress’s solution is based on an entirely distinct method of tracking. Avago’s patents are based on image correlation techniques where a series of images are taken and compared to detect movement. Cypress instead uses its own, patented OptiCheck™ technology, which the company has invested tens of millions of dollars to develop. OptiCheck is a proprietary, speckle-based two-dimensional comb array technology.

“As we have historically done, we will fight this lawsuit with all of our resources,” said T.J. Rodgers, President and CEO of Cypress. “It’s clear that this is a desperate attempt by Avago to intimidate Cypress, our partners and our customers into abandoning a superior technical solution. That’s not how free markets are intended to work, and we have no intention of allowing that to happen. We look forward to the opportunity to prove our case in court and to ensure that our customers continue to enjoy the benefits of this outstanding technology that we have developed.”