REG - IQE PLC - IQE plc: Filing of lawsuit to protect IQE's IP

IqeAnnouncement

18/07/2022 07:00

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RNS Number : 7104S  IQE PLC  18 July 2022

IQE plc

 

 

Cardiff, UK

18 July 2022

 

 

 

Filing of lawsuit to protect IQE's Intellectual Property

 

-     Litigation brought against Tower Semiconductor

-     Significant evidence suggests misappropriation of IQE's trade
secrets relating to its ground-breaking "porous silicon" technology

 

 

IQE plc (AIM:  IQE, "IQE" or the "Group"), the leading supplier of compound
semiconductor wafer products and advanced material solutions to the global
semiconductor industry, announces that it has filed a lawsuit against Tower
Semiconductor ("Tower").

 

IQE has significant evidence that Tower misappropriated IQE's trade secrets to
unlawfully obtain patents on IQE's technology. These claims relate to IQE's
proprietary porous silicon technology which would underpin devices used in 5G
and advanced sensing applications.

 

IQE filed its complaint in the U.S. Federal Court in California (case number
8:22-cv-00867) under Federal and California state law in relation to the
misappropriation of trade secrets, correction of inventorship, breach of
contract, unfair competition, and intentional interference with prospective
economic advantage.

 

Tom Dale, General Counsel & Company Secretary at IQE, commented:

 

"We brought about these claims as we have significant reason to believe that
Tower has misappropriated IQE's proprietary trade secrets for its own benefit.
Our technology, processes and intellectual property are vital in underpinning
IQE's products and solutions and in maintaining our market-leading position in
advanced semiconductor materials. We will vigorously protect them and will
provide further updates as material developments occur."

 

 

Contacts:

 

IQE plc

+44 (0) 29 2083 9400

Americo Lemos

Tim Pullen

Amy Barlow

 

Peel Hunt LLP (Nomad and Joint Broker)

+44 (0) 20 7418 8900

Edward Knight

Paul Gillam

James Smith

 

Citigroup Global Markets Limited (Joint Broker)

+44 (0) 20 7986 4000

Christopher Wren

Peter Catterall

 

Headland Consultancy (Financial PR)
+ 44 (0) 20 38054822

Andy Rivett-Carnac: +44 (0) 7968 997 365

Antonia Pollock: +44 (0) 7789 954 356

 

ABOUT IQE

http://iqep.com
(https://www.globenewswire.com/Tracker?data=yZf7NKp1JKLALUCxlBuC8wkLnLAqoe5-kjjIlkMIDci9q9W0x_02bwZV-eorSbpLXZxy4zi3xHh-O4FM8nWjeg==)

 

IQE is the leading global supplier of advanced compound semiconductor wafers
and materials solutions that enable a diverse range of applications across:

 

·    handset devices

·    global telecoms infrastructure

·    connected devices

·    3D Sensing

 

As a scaled global epitaxy wafer manufacturer, IQE is uniquely positioned in
this market which has high barriers to entry. IQE supplies the whole market
and is agnostic to the winners and losers at chip and OEM level. By leveraging
the Group's intellectual property portfolio including know-how and patents, it
produces epitaxy wafers of superior quality, yield and unit economics.

IQE is headquartered in Cardiff UK, with c. 685 employees across nine
manufacturing locations in the UK, US, Taiwan and Singapore, and is listed on
the AIM Stock Exchange in London.

 

 

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