Siano Sues Innofidei in US for Unfair Competition
Siano PR, 10/28/10
Israeli-based mobile DTV chipmaker Siano Mobile Silicon today announced that it has filed a complaint against Beijing-based competitor Innofidei and certain individuals, including Innofidei CEO Tom Zhang and CTO Stanley Wang, in US District Court for Northern California. The complaint alleges that the defendants violated federal and state antitrust laws, and California laws prohibiting unfair competition, trade libel, and wrongful interference with Siano's business.
Siano's complaint alleges that Innofidei has: engaged in anti-competitive, monopolistic and illegal practices in violation of US federal and California state antitrust laws; made libelous and disparaging communications to Siano's customers and other participants in the mobile phone TV industry; engaged in unfair competition; and wrongfully interfered with Siano's contractual and business relationships.
Specifically, Siano claims that Innofidei, faced with a competitive threat from Siano, has unlawfully engaged in a deliberate course of conduct and scheme intended to exclude Siano from the worldwide market for mobile phone TV receiver chips by attempting to exclude Siano from the CMMB market in China. Siano asserts that Innofidei falsely claimed to Siano's actual and potential customers that Innofidei controls China's CMMB broadcast system and that Siano's chips are inferior, and Innofidei improperly altered its transmitter in China to make it appear as though only Innofidei's chips can receive CMMB signals, when in fact Siano's chips also receive those signals. The complaint further alleges that Innofidei has attempted to intimidate actual and potential customers into not buying Siano products, by saying that it can influence Chinese government entities to block Siano mobile phone TV chips from the Chinese market. In fact, Siano has enjoyed full collaboration and support from all state organizations related to the CMMB field, including SARFT, TiMi Technologies (a subsidiary of SARFT's Academy of Broadcasting Science), China Mobile (NYSE: CHL; 0941.HK), and others.
Siano's complaint also alleges that as part of this scheme, Innofidei knowingly filed a sham patent infringement action in China. The complaint asserts that the patents-in-suit are invalid and that the real purpose of Innofidei's infringement action in China is to discourage device manufacturers from buying Siano chips.
Siano seeks injunctive relief as well as actual, treble and punitive damages. Siano has asked for a jury trial.
Keywords: wireless CMMB mobile phone TV Innofidei chipmaker Siano Tom Zhang Stanley Wang litigation IPR infringement law
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