Foley Secures Another Win for Avago Technologies

Foley & Lardner LLP secured a win on behalf of Avago Technologies before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California this week, wherein Judge Edward J. Davila granted Avago’s motion for leave to file a fourth amended and supplemental complaint, successfully adding Mellanox Technologies, Inc. and Mellanox Technologies, Ltd. as defendants. In the same Order, Judge Davila denied IPtronics’ (now owned by Mellanox) motion to amend their counterclaims to add antitrust and unfair competition claims.

This milestone comes on the heels of the firm’s April 2014 victory for Avago when the International Trade Commission (ITC) issued a Notice of Final Determination in favor of Avago, affirming infringement by Mellanox and entering a cease and desist orders against Mellanox, prohibiting it from importing, selling, marketing, advertising, distributing, transferring and soliciting U.S. agents or distributors for the active optical cables and optoelectronic transceivers with Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers (VCSEL).

Avago filed this lawsuit in June 2010, alleging the IPtronics’ VCSEL drivers violated two Avago patents: U.S. Patent Nos. 5,359,447 (“the ‘477 patent”) and 6,947,456 (“the ‘456 patent”). IPtronics counterclaimed, seeking declaratory judgment of invalidity and noninfringement of both patents. Avago later filed a complaint at the ITC alleging infringement of the ‘456 patent by IPtronics Inc. In February 2013, the District Court stayed the action pending the outcome of the ITC investigation.