Aeronex files to sue SAES for patent infringement
Aeronex is now seeking permission to combine a countersuit against SAES for patent infringement with the original lawsuit brought by SAES Getters SpA. Ammonia is used during MOCVD epitaxial growth of nitride-based devices, including LEDs and lasers.
When gathering evidence for the lawsuit, Aeronex claims to have discovered that neither of the ammonia purifiers made by itself or SAES uses technology covered by SAES s patent number 5,716,588. This patent describes the use of metallic iron and metallic manganese on a high-surface-area substrate such as a zeolite or an inert silicate.
Aeronex claims that composition testing of SAES’ product PS11-MC1-NH reveals a combination of iron oxides and manganese oxides without a separate supporting substrate, and therefore the product does not follow SAES s patent. Instead, Aeronex claims that the SAES product uses technology described in Aeronex’s patent number 6,241,955.
Aeronex notes that its product contains a higher ratio of manganese oxide to iron oxide compared to the SAES product, which contains more iron oxide than manganese oxide. "Manganese oxide is highly aggressive at binding water in an ammonia stream and is superior to iron oxide in our development tests," said Dan Alvarez, director of new technology at Aeronex.
Aeronex’s president Jeff Spiegelman commented on the possible reasons for the original SAES lawsuit: "During the last 12 months - a very trying business period - Aeronex [product] performance has impressed the industry with large market share gains and 40% increase in total purification sales. Aeronex has grown significantly while our key competitors have suffered significant losses in total revenue and market share."
Aeronex was also named in a patent infringement action by SAES Getters SpA, related to US patent number 6,241,955 for hydride gas purification technology, which was awarded to Aeronex. SAES claims that the Aeronex patent infringes upon a patent owned by SAES, an accusation denied by Aeronex.
