Federal Circuit Denies SynQor's Petition for Panel Rehearing in Vicor v. SynQor

ANDOVER, MA--(Marketwired - Apr 27, 2015) -  On April 24, 2015, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C., issued an order denying SynQor's petition for panel rehearing of the Court's March 13, 2015, decision invalidating certain claims of U.S. Patent No. 7,072,190, which SynQor, Inc. has asserted against Vicor Corporation (NASDAQ: VICR) and Cisco Systems, Inc. in litigation currently pending in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. The Federal Circuit's March 13^th decision reversed a prior decision of the United States Patent and Trademark Office's Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) that had found the same claims patentable in an inter partes reexamination proceeding initiated by Vicor. The Federal Circuit's April 24th order confirms its earlier ruling that prior art anticipated key claims of the '190 patent and may render the remaining claims invalid as obvious.

On April 20, 2015, the PTAB issued a decision in the inter partes reexamination of SynQor's U.S. Patent No. 7,564,702 that reversed the patent examiners' prior rejection of all claims in that patent. Vicor believes this decision, like the PTAB's prior decision concerning the '190 patent, misapprehends relevant prior art because of misrepresentations by SynQor. Vicor intends to vigorously contest this ruling, through a motion for reconsideration and/or an appeal to the Federal Circuit. 

Commenting on the Federal Circuit's denial of SynQor's petition, Dr. Patrizio Vinciarelli, Vicor's Chief Executive Officer, stated, "For years SynQor has sought to prevent competition in the market for Intermediate Bus Architecture (IBA) components, by patenting concepts that were already well known in the field of power electronics, and by asserting its patents against Vicor's fundamentally different and technically superior bus converter products. The Federal Circuit's affirmation that key claims of the '190 patent were anticipated by prior art belies SynQor's claim to have invented IBA and validates Vicor's determination to confront SynQor's abuse of the patent system and of patent litigation to suppress competition from superior products known not to infringe. We look forward to future rulings rejecting the validity of the remaining claims in SynQor's family of bogus patents, and its groundless patent infringement claims against Vicor."

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Any statement in this press release that is not a statement of historical fact is a forward-looking statement, and, certain words and expressions identify forward-looking statements. These statements are based upon management's current expectations and estimates as to the prospective events and circumstances that may or may not be within the company's control and as to which there can be no assurance. Actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including those economic, business, operational and financial considerations set forth in Vicor's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014, under Part I, Item I -- "Business," under Part I, Item 1A -- "Risk Factors," under Part I, Item 3 -- "Legal Proceedings," and under Part II, Item 7 -- "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations." The risk factors set forth in the Annual Report on Form 10-K may not be exhaustive. Therefore, the information contained in the Annual Report on Form 10-K should be read together with other reports and documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time, including Forms 10-Q, 8-K and 10-K, which may supplement, modify, supersede or update those risk factors. Vicor does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements as a result of future events or developments.

Vicor Corporation designs, develops, manufactures, and markets modular power components and complete power systems based upon a portfolio of patented technologies. Headquartered in Andover, Massachusetts, Vicor sells its products primarily to customers in the higher-performance, higher-power segments of the power systems market, including aerospace and defense electronics, enterprise and high performance computing, industrial equipment and automation, telecommunications and network infrastructure, and vehicles and transportation markets.