China Invalidates Goodix Patent in Dispute with Egis Technology

Egis Technology seems to be in the clear in its patent dispute with Goodix Technology. Goodix filed an initial complaint with the Beijing Intellectual Property Court in July of 2019, alleging that Egis had infringed on one of the 50 patents that Goodix held for the technology in its in-display fingerprint sensor. Goodix was asking for around $7.3 million in compensation.

Unfortunately for Goodix (and fortunately for Egis), the company now holds one less patent than it did at the time. The China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) has invalidated Goodix’s patent ZL201820937410.2, which happens to be the patent mentioned in the infringement lawsuit. As a result, Egis argues that the lawsuit itself is now baseless, since Egis is not in violation of any current Goodix patent.

The two sides are still awaiting a final decision (and likely dismissal) from the Beijing Intellectual Property Court, but the invalidation should come as more welcome news for Egis. The company posted strong results in its third quarter and year-end reports, and will no longer need to worry about the lurking threat of an expensive legal settlement.

Egis recently revealed that it has integrated a fingerprint matching algorithm from Precise Biometrics into an optical in-display fingerprint sensor built primarily for smartphones.   

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February 10, 2020 – by Eric Weiss