Vicor says PTAB denied institution of IPR of patents asserted against Delta

Vicor Corporation announced that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board of the United States Patent and Trademark Office has denied institution of Inter Partes Review of all patents asserted by Vicor against Delta Electronics and downstream customers at the International Trade Commission. On July 13, 2023, Vicor filed a complaint at the ITC against Delta alleging infringement of three Vicor patents: U.S. Patent Nos. 9,166,481; 9,516,761 and 10,199,950. On August 17, 2023, the ITC instituted an investigation of “power converter modules used in data center server, artificial intelligence and cloud computing systems, to power artificial intelligence accelerators, tensor processing units, graphical processing units and central processing units, and computing systems containing the same.” In its ITC case, Vicor seeks a limited exclusion order and cease-and-desist orders to protect Vicor’s domestic industry by barring from entry into the United States power converter modules and computing systems infringing any of the asserted patents. The ITC held an evidentiary hearing from April 29 to May 3, 2024, and its determination of Vicor’s claim is forthcoming. On November 2, 2023, Delta filed an IPR of the ‘950 patent, challenging its validity. On May 17, 2024, the PTAB, having determined that Delta had not established a reasonable likelihood of prevailing in its invalidity challenge, issued its decision 10,199,950 denying institution. On November 13, 2023, Delta filed an IPR of the ‘481 patent, challenging its validity. On May 17, 2024, the PTAB, having determined that Delta had not established a reasonable likelihood of prevailing in its invalidity challenge, issued its decision 9,166,481 denying institution. On November 22, 2023, Delta filed an IPR of the ‘761 patent, challenging its validity. On May 24, 2024, the PTAB, having determined that Delta had not established a reasonable likelihood of prevailing in its invalidity challenge, issued its decision 9,516,761 denying institution. Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Patrizio Vinciarelli, stated: “PTAB decisions, denying all of Delta’s IPRs, debunk expert opinions proffered in Delta’s ill-conceived, failed attempts to invalidate Vicor patents. As the dominoes fall, implausible defenses at the PTAB and the ITC have left respondents with the imminent prospect of an exclusion order affecting Delta and its customers, a necessary remedy against infringement of intellectual property invented by Vicor and practiced by Vicor’s pioneering NBM power converter modules.”