The Power Management/Bus Controller Portfolio, acquired from Intellectual Ventures in October 2015 and transferred to wholly owned subsidiary, Semcon IP Inc., consists of four United States patents that cover fundamental technology for adjusting the processor clock and voltage to save power based on the operating characteristics of the processor and one United States patent that relates to coordinating direct bus communications between subsystems in an assigned channel.
In May 2018, Semcon brought a patent infringement action in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas against AsusTeK Computer Inc. for infringement of certain of the Power Management Portfolio, alleging that "Asus has infringed and is continuing to infringe the Patents-in-Suit by making, using, selling, offering to sell, and/or importing, and by actively inducing others to make, use, sell, offer to sell and/or importing, products that utilize SoCs and associated software that perform DCVS or DVFS for power management, including Qualcomm Snapdragon SoCs including at least the Snapdragon 800, 820 and 821 SoCs. Such Asus products include at least the Zenfone 3 Ultra, Zenfone 3 Deluxe, Zenfone AR, Zenpad 3 and Padfone X smartphones and tablets. Additionally, these Asus products include software that utilizes DCVS and/or DVFS for power management." A copy of the compaint is available here.
In July 2019, Asus moved for summary judgement of non-infringement, only to withdraw their motion in late August. A copy of the motion is available here and Semcon's response is available here. In September 2019, Asus moved for leave to serve amended initial disclosures and to produce discovery out of time. A copy of the motion is available here and Semcon's response is available here.
A Pretrial Conference was held on October 28, 2019, during which the court gave the parties instructions for jury selection, set trial for December 9th, heard oral arguments on the motion to leave, denied the motion and ordered the parties to return to mediation. The minutes from the pretrial conference are available here.
The Supplemental Mediators Report, filed with the court on November 18, 2019, states "a settlement has been reached as to all claims by and between Plaintiff Semcon IP, Inc. and Defendant AsusTek Computer Inc. This case is now settled." A copy of the mediator's report is available here.
Semcon has resolved cases against Capri Holdings Limited (f/k/a/ Michael Kors Holdings Limited), Kyocera Corporation and Amazon.com, Inc.
Semcon has cases pending against Louis Vuitton North America, Inc. (TXED-2-19-cv-00122 Lead Case) and TCT Mobile International Limited et al (TXED-2-18-cv-00194) consolidated and docketed for trial on September 14, 2020, subject to change; and Shenzhen OnePlus Science & Technology Co., Ltd. (TXED-2-18-cv-00196 )