International Rectifier Corp of El Segundo, California has filed two lawsuits in the Federal District Court in Los Angeles charging Harris Corp, SGS Thomson Microelectronics SpA, and its US subsidiary with infringement of Rectifier’s power transistor MOSFET patents: the company also said that it has been served in connection with Harris’ previous filing of a declaratory judgment action in Federal District Court in Newark, New Jersey; that action seeks to declare five key power MOSFET patents invalid and not infringed by Harris; those same patents were recently held valid and infringed by Siliconix Inc, and the two companies reached an agreement consisting of a royalty-bearing licence under Rectifier’s patents and a $12 million settlement, both of which have to be approved by a court.
