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LEGAL PROCEEDINGS AND CONTINGENCIES | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2016
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract] |
LEGAL PROCEEDINGS AND CONTINGENCIES [Text Block] | LEGAL PROCEEDINGS AND CONTINGENCIES: From time to time in the ordinary course of business, the Company becomes involved in lawsuits, or customers and distributors may make claims against the Company. In accordance with ASC 450-10, Contingencies, the Company makes a provision for a liability when it is both probable that a liability has been incurred and the amount of the loss can be reasonably estimated. On October 20, 2004, the Company filed a complaint against Fairchild Semiconductor International, Inc. and Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation (referred to collectively as “Fairchild”) in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware. In its complaint, the Company alleged that Fairchild has and is infringing four of Power Integrations’ patents pertaining to pulse width modulation (PWM) integrated circuit devices. Fairchild denied infringement and asked for a declaration from the court that it does not infringe any Power Integrations patent and that the patents are invalid. The Court issued a claim construction order on March 31, 2006 which was favorable to the Company. The Court set a first trial on the issues of infringement, willfulness and damages for October 2, 2006. At the close of the first trial, on October 10, 2006, the jury returned a verdict in favor of the Company finding all asserted claims of all four patents-in-suit to be willfully infringed by Fairchild and awarding $34.0 million in damages. Fairchild raised defenses contending that the asserted patents are invalid or unenforceable, and the Court held a second trial on these issues beginning on September 17, 2007. On September 21, 2007, the jury returned a verdict in the Company’s favor, affirming the validity of the asserted claims of all four patents-in-suit. Fairchild submitted further materials on the issue of enforceability along with various other post-trial motions, and the Company filed post-trial motions seeking a permanent injunction and increased damages and attorneys’ fees, among other things. On September 24, 2008, the Court denied Fairchild’s motion regarding enforceability and ruled that all four patents are enforceable. On December 12, 2008, the Court ruled on the remaining post-trial motions, including granting a permanent injunction, reducing the damages award to $6.1 million, granting Fairchild a new trial on the issue of willful infringement in view of an intervening change in the law, and denying the Company’s motion for increased damages and attorneys’ fees with leave to renew the motion after the resolution of the issue of willful infringement. On December 22, 2008, at Fairchild’s request, the Court temporarily stayed the permanent injunction for 90 days. On January 12, 2009, Fairchild filed a notice of appeal challenging the Court’s refusal to enter a more permanent stay of the injunction, and Fairchild filed additional motions requesting that both the Federal Circuit and the District Court extend the stay of injunction. The District Court temporarily extended the stay pending the Federal Circuit ruling on Fairchild’s pending motion, but the Federal Circuit dismissed Fairchild’s appeal and denied its motion on May 5, 2009, and the District Court issued an order on May 13, 2009 confirming the reinstatement of the permanent injunction as originally entered in December 2008. On June 22, 2009, the Court held a brief bench re-trial on the issue of willful infringement. On July 22, 2010, the Court found that Fairchild willfully infringed all four of the asserted patents, and the Court also invited briefing on enhanced damages and attorneys’ fees. Fairchild also filed a motion requesting that the Court amend its findings regarding willfulness. On January 18, 2011, the Court denied Fairchild’s request to amend the findings regarding Fairchild’s willful infringement and doubled the damages award against Fairchild but declined to award attorneys’ fees. On February 3, 2011, the Court entered final judgment in favor of the Company for a total damages award of $12.9 million. Fairchild filed a notice of appeal challenging the final judgment and a number of the underlying rulings, and the Company filed a cross-appeal seeking to increase the damages award. The appeal was argued on January 11, 2012, and the Federal Circuit issued a mixed ruling on March 26, 2013, affirming Fairchild’s infringement of certain claims that support the basis for the permanent injunction while reversing, vacating, and remanding the findings with respect to other claims, including the Company’s claim for damages. The Company filed a petition seeking Supreme Court review of the Federal Circuit’s ruling on damages issues, and the Supreme Court called for a response from Fairchild but ultimately declined to review the case. On remand, the Company intends to pursue its claim for financial compensation based on Fairchild’s infringement. On May 9, 2005, the Company filed a Complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) under section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, 19 U.S.C. Section 1337 against System General (SG). The Company filed a supplement to the complaint on May 24, 2005. The Company alleged infringement of its patents pertaining to PWM integrated circuit devices produced by SG, which are used in power conversion applications such as power supplies for computer monitors. The Commission instituted an investigation on June 8, 2005 in response to the Company’s complaint. SG filed a response to the ITC complaint asserting that the patents-in-suit were invalid and not infringed. The Company subsequently and voluntarily narrowed the number of patents and claims in suit, which proceeded to a hearing. The hearing on the investigation was held before the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) from January 18 to January 24, 2006. Post-hearing briefs were submitted and briefing concluded February 24, 2006. The ALJ’s initial determination was issued on May 15, 2006. The ALJ found all remaining asserted claims valid and infringed, and recommended the exclusion of the infringing products as well as certain downstream products that contain the infringing products. After further briefing, on June 30, 2006, the Commission decided not to review the initial determination on liability, but did invite briefs on remedy, bonding and the public interest. On August 11, 2006, the Commission issued an order excluding from entry into the United States the infringing SG PWM chips, and any liquid-crystal-display (LCD) computer monitors, AC printer adapters and sample/demonstration circuit boards containing an infringing SG chip. The U.S. Customs Service is authorized to enforce the exclusion order. On October 11, 2006, the presidential review period expired without any action from the President, and the ITC exclusion order is now in full effect. SG appealed the ITC decision, and on November 19, 2007, the Federal Circuit affirmed the ITC’s findings in all respects. On October 27, 2008, SG filed a petition to modify the exclusion order in view of a recent Federal Circuit opinion in an unrelated case, and the Company responded to oppose any modification, but the Commission modified the exclusion order on February 27, 2009. Nevertheless, the exclusion order still prohibits SG and related entities from importing the infringing SG chips and any LCD computer monitors, AC printer adapters, and sample/demonstration circuit boards containing an infringing SG chip. On May 23, 2008, the Company filed a complaint against Fairchild Semiconductor International, Inc., Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation, and Fairchild’s wholly owned subsidiary System General Corporation (referred to collectively as “Fairchild”), in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware. In its complaint, the Company alleged that Fairchild has infringed and is infringing three patents pertaining to power supply controller integrated circuit devices. Fairchild answered the Company’s complaint on November 7, 2008, denying infringement and asking for a declaration from the Court that it does not infringe any Power Integrations patent and that the patents are invalid and unenforceable. Fairchild’s answer also included counterclaims accusing the Company of infringing three patents pertaining to primary side power conversion integrated circuit devices. Fairchild had earlier brought these same claims in a separate suit against the Company, also in Delaware, which Fairchild dismissed in favor of adding its claims to the Company’s already pending suit against Fairchild. The Company has answered Fairchild’s counterclaims, denying infringement and asking for a declaration from the Court that it does not infringe any Fairchild patent and that the Fairchild patents are invalid. Fairchild also filed a motion to stay the case, but the Court denied that motion on December 19, 2008. On March 5, 2009, Fairchild filed a motion for summary judgment to preclude any recovery for post-verdict sales of parts found to infringe in the parties’ other ongoing litigation, described above, and the Company filed its opposition and a cross-motion to preclude Fairchild from re-litigating the issues of infringement and damages for those same products. On June 26, 2009, the Court held a hearing on the parties’ motions, and on July 9, 2009 the Court issued an order denying the parties’ motions but staying proceedings with respect to the products that were found to infringe and which are subject to the injunction in the other Delaware case between the parties pending the entry of final judgment in that case; those products are expected to be addressed in the context of the parties’ remand proceedings following the appeal in their earlier litigation in Delaware, and the remainder of the case is proceeding. On December 18, 2009, the Court issued an order construing certain terms in the asserted claims of the Company’s and Fairchild’s patents in suit. Following the Court’s ruling on claim construction, Fairchild withdrew its claim related to one of its patents and significantly reduced the number of claims asserted for the remaining two patents. The parties thereafter filed and argued a number of motions for summary judgment, and the Court denied the majority of the parties’ motions but granted the Company’s motion to preclude Fairchild from re-arguing validity positions that were rejected in the prior case between the parties. Because the assigned Judge retired at the end of July 2010, the case was re-assigned to a different Judge, and the Court vacated the trial schedule and had the parties provide their input on the appropriate course of action. The Court thereafter set a trial schedule with the jury trial on infringement and validity to begin in July 2011. On April 18, 2011, the Court rescheduled the trial to begin in January 2012, and on June 2, 2011, the Court moved the trial date to April 2012 to permit the parties to address another patent the Company accused Fairchild of infringing. Following a trial in April 2012, the jury returned a verdict finding that Fairchild infringes two of the Company’s patents, that Fairchild has induced others to infringe the Company’s patents, and also upheld the validity of the infringed patents. Of the two remaining counterclaim patents Fairchild asserted in the case, one was found not to be infringed, but the jury found the second patent to be infringed by a limited number of the Company’s products, although the jury further found the Company did not induce infringement by any customers, including customers outside the United States. On March 29, 2013, the District Court denied most of the parties’ post-trial motions on liability but granted the Company’s motion for judgment as a matter of law finding that Fairchild infringed another of the Company’s patents. On April 25, 2013, the Court denied both parties’ motions regarding the unenforceability of each other’s patents. The Company is challenging adverse findings on appeal; nevertheless, the Company estimates that even if the verdict on Fairchild’s patent were ultimately upheld, the sales potentially impacted would amount to less than 0.5% of the Company’s revenues. The Company requested an injunction preventing further infringement of its own patents by Fairchild, and Fairchild requested an injunction as well. Following a hearing on the issue in June 2014, the Court denied Fairchild’s request for an injunction against the Company and granted the Company’s request for an injunction against Fairchild. On January 13, 2015, the District Court entered final judgment on the liability and validity issues discussed above, and both parties filed appeals with the Federal Circuit. After briefing was completed, oral argument on the appeal took place in early July 2016, and on December 12, 2016, the Federal Circuit issued its opinion in the appeal, overturning the lone infringement verdict against the Company, finding one of the Company’s patents invalid, and overturning the District Court’s jury instruction on inducement. In view of the Federal Circuit’s rejection of the District Court’s jury instruction on inducement, the Court also vacated the inducement findings and associated injunction against Fairchild and remanded the case for a retrial on inducement, but the underlying validity and infringement findings against Fairchild on those two patents remain intact. On remand, the Company will also be seeking financial damages, as well as enhanced damages for willful infringement; these issues are to be decided in separate proceedings at a later date. On June 28, 2004, the Company filed a complaint for patent infringement in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, against SG Corporation, a Taiwanese company, and its U.S. subsidiary. The Company’s complaint alleged that certain integrated circuits produced by SG infringed and continue to infringe certain of its patents. On June 10, 2005, in response to the initiation of the International Trade Commission (ITC) investigation discussed above, the District Court stayed all proceedings. Subsequent to the completion of the ITC proceedings, the District Court temporarily lifted the stay and scheduled a case management conference. On December 6, 2006, SG filed a notice of appeal of the ITC decision as discussed above. In response, and by agreement of the parties, the District Court vacated the scheduled case management conference and renewed the stay of proceedings pending the outcome of the Federal Circuit appeal of the ITC determination. On November 19, 2007, the Federal Circuit affirmed the ITC’s findings in all respects, and SG did not file a petition for review. The parties subsequently filed a motion to dismiss the District Court case without prejudice. On November 4, 2009, the Company re-filed its complaint for patent infringement against SG and its parent corporations, Fairchild Semiconductor International, Inc. and Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation, to address their continued infringement of patents at issue in the original suit that recently emerged from SG requested reexamination proceedings before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The Company seeks, among other things, an order enjoining SG and Fairchild from infringing the Company’s patents and an award of damages resulting from the alleged infringement. Fairchild has denied infringement and asked for a declaration from the Court that it does not infringe any Power Integrations patent, that the patents are invalid, and that one of the two of the Company’s patents now at issue in the case is unenforceable. On May 5, 2010, SG and Fairchild filed an amended answer including counterclaims accusing the Company of infringing two patents, and since that time Fairchild has withdrawn its claim for infringement of one of the patents it originally asserted against the Company but added another patent to the case over the Company’s objections; the Company contests these claims vigorously. Both parties filed summary judgment motions and challenges to each other’s experts’ testimony, and the Court granted the Company’s motion for summary judgment of non-infringement with respect to one of Fairchild’s two patents. Following a trial on the remaining claims in February 2014, the jury returned a verdict in the Company’s favor, affirming the validity of the asserted claims of the Company’s patents-in-suit, finding that SG and Fairchild infringed the Company’s asserted patents and induced infringement by others, and awarding $105.0 million in damages. The Jury also rejected Fairchild’s remaining counterclaims for infringement against the Company. Fairchild challenged these rulings in post-trial motions, but the judge confirmed the jury’s determinations on infringement and damages, although the Court declined to find Fairchild’s infringement willful. Fairchild also pressed its unenforceability claim with respect to one of the two patents it was found to infringe in post-trial briefing, but the Court rejected Fairchild’s unenforceability claim. Fairchild also requested reconsideration of the damages determinations, and the Court granted a new trial with respect to damages but none of the other issues addressed in the previous trial, with the retrial scheduled for December 2015. Thereafter, the parties completed pretrial proceedings challenging each other’s experts, and the Court granted portions of each party’s motions limiting the scope of expert testimony for purposes of the damages retrial, but neither party was successful in their efforts to prevent the other side’s experts from testifying at trial. Following a retrial on the issue of damages in December 2015, the jury returned a verdict in the Company’s favor, finding that the Company’s patented technology created the basis for customer demand for the infringing Fairchild products and awarding $139.8 million in damages. Although the jury awarded damages, at this stage of the proceedings the Company cannot state the amount, if any, it might ultimately recover from Fairchild, and no benefits have been recorded in the Company’s consolidated financial statements as a result of the damages verdict. Fairchild filed post-trial motions challenging the verdict, but the Court rejected Fairchild’s motions challenging the damages verdict in August 2016. The Company also filed motions requesting enhanced damages and attorney fees and reinstatement of the willfulness finding against Fairchild in view of an intervening change of law; on January 13, 2017, the District Court reinstated the finding that Fairchild’s infringement was willful but declined to enhance damages or award fees. Fairchild has filed a further challenge to the verdict, and a ruling on that remaining motion is expected in the coming months, along with Fairchild’s appeal on the merits. In February 2010, Fairchild and System General (SG) filed suits for patent infringement against the Company, Power Integrations Netherlands B.V., and representative offices of Power Integrations Netherlands in Shanghai and Shenzhen with the Suzhou Intermediate Court in the People’s Republic of China. The suits asserted four Chinese patents and sought an injunction and damages of approximately $19.0 million. Power Integrations Netherlands filed invalidation proceedings for all four asserted SG patents in the People’s Republic of China Patent Reexamination Board (PRB) of the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO), and all four challenges were accepted by the PRB, with hearings conducted in September 2010. In early January 2012, the Company received rulings from the PRB invalidating the majority of the claims Fairchild asserted in litigation. The Suzhou Court conducted evidentiary hearings in 2012 and issued rulings in late December 2012, finding that the Company did not infringe any of the asserted patents. Fairchild filed appeals challenging the Suzhou Court’s non-infringement rulings, and the appeals court in Nanjing held further hearings in the infringement proceedings in late 2014, but Fairchild has since dismissed its appeals, bringing the infringement proceedings to a close in the first quarter of 2015. On July 11, 2011, the Company filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court, District of Columbia, against David Kappos in his capacity as Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) as part of the ongoing reexamination proceedings related to one of the patents asserted against Fairchild and SG in the Delaware litigation described above. The Company filed a motion for summary judgment on a preliminary jurisdictional issue, and the PTO filed a cross-motion to dismiss on this same issue; briefing on those motions was completed in October, 2011. On November 18, 2013, the Court granted the PTO’s motion and transferred the case to the Federal Circuit, where additional briefing took place. Following a hearing in May 2015, the Federal Circuit ruled in the Company’s favor on August 12, 2015, overturning the PTO’s claim construction and remanding the case for further proceedings. On remand, the PTO ignored the Federal Circuit’s guidance, so the party has filed another appeal to the Federal Circuit; further briefing and proceedings on the second appeal will take place in the coming months. On May 1, 2012, Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation and Fairchild's wholly owned subsidiary, System General Corporation (referred to collectively as “Fairchild”), filed a complaint against the Company in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware. In its complaint, Fairchild alleged that the Company has infringed and is infringing four patents pertaining to power conversion integrated circuit devices. The Company answered Fairchild’s complaint, denying infringement and asking for a declaration from the Court that it does not infringe any Fairchild patent and that the Fairchild patents are invalid, and the Company also asserted counterclaims against Fairchild for infringement of five of the Company’s patents. Fairchild has withdrawn its claim for infringement of one of the patents it asserted against the Company after the Company’s preliminary challenge. The parties streamlined their contentions in view of the Court's pretrial rulings, and following a trial in late May and early June 2015, a jury returned a verdict finding that Fairchild infringed one of the Company's patents, that Fairchild has induced and contributed to others' infringement of the Company's patent, and that the Company induced infringement of a Fairchild patent that was previously found infringed in the 2012 trial described above, with a damages award of $2.4 million in favor of Fairchild. Both parties filed post-trial motions and challenges to various portions of the jury verdicts, and the Court addressed the first wave of post-trial motions, denying each side’s challenges to the verdict and denying Fairchild’s request for an injunction. In parallel proceedings, the Federal Circuit overturned the underlying finding of infringement against the Company on the Fairchild patent-in-suit, and the Company moved to vacate the inducement and damages judgment against the Company, a motion that Fairchild did not oppose. Further proceedings and an appeal of the outstanding issues are expected in the coming months. On October 21, 2015, the Company filed a complaint for patent infringement against Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation, Fairchild Semiconductor International, Inc., and wholly-owned subsidiary Fairchild (Taiwan) Corporation (referred to collectively as “Fairchild”) to address Fairchild’s continued infringement of two patents Fairchild was previously found to infringe in the three District Court cases the Company brought against Fairchild discussed above. In each of the three prior cases, Fairchild was found to infringe one of the patents at issue in the latest complaint, and Fairchild’s challenges to the validity of the patents were rejected during the course of the prior lawsuits as well. Fairchild has answered the Company’s complaint, denying infringement and asking for a declaration from the Court that it does not infringe any Power Integrations patent and that the patents are invalid. Fairchild’s answer also included counterclaims accusing the Company of infringing four patents pertaining to power conversion integrated circuit devices, including one patent the Company was found not to infringe in prior litigation. The Company has answered Fairchild’s counterclaims, denying infringement and asking for a declaration from the Court that it does not infringe any Fairchild patent and that the Fairchild patents are invalid. On December 15, 2016, the Court stayed the case pending resolution of the parties inter partes review (IPR) and reexamination proceedings regarding the patents-in-suit. On March 10, 2016, Silver Star Capital, LLC filed a petition with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) requesting that the PTO conduct an inter partes review (IPR) of the validity of the Company’s U.S. Patent No. 6,212,079 (the ’079 patent), which the Company has asserted against Fairchild Semiconductor in the California litigation initiated in 2004, as discussed above. The Company’s ’079 patent is also asserted in the Company’s most recent lawsuit against Fairchild filed in October 2015, also discussed above. On March 29, 2016, ON Semiconductor Corporation filed another petition requesting inter partes review of the Company’s ’079 patent. Since that time, ON Semiconductor has filed eleven more IPR petitions requesting review of various patents that the Company previously asserted against Fairchild as described above. The PTO denied Silver Star Capital’s IPR petition on the ’079 patent but instituted IPR proceedings with respect to ON Semiconductor’s petition directed to the ’079 patent, with further proceedings expected in the coming months. Further proceedings are also expected with respect to ON Semiconductor’s other IPR petitions in the coming months. Although the validity of the Company’s challenged patents has previously been confirmed in the Company’s District Court litigation with Fairchild and in many cases in prior PTO reexamination proceedings as well, and though the Company intends to vigorously defend the validity of its patents, the outcome of the IPR proceedings is uncertain. On April 1, 2016, Opticurrent, LLC filed a complaint against the Company in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. In its complaint, Opticurrent alleges that the Company has infringed and is infringing one patent pertaining to transistor switch devices. The Company has filed a motion to transfer the case to California, which will be addressed in the coming months. Further proceedings and discovery are expected over the course of the coming months, with trial currently scheduled for October 2017. The Company intends to vigorously defend itself against Opticurrent’s claims. On August 11, 2016, ON Semiconductor filed a complaint against the Company in the United States District Court for the District of Arizona. In its complaint, ON Semiconductor alleges that the Company has infringed and is infringing five patents and requests injunctive relief, and the complaint also seeks a declaration of non-infringement with respect to three of the Company’s patents that were previously asserted against Fairchild Semiconductor. The Company has not yet answered ON Semiconductor’s complaint, but the Company has filed a motion to dismiss and/or transfer the case to the Northern District of California, which will be addressed in the coming months. No date has been set for trial, but the Company believes it has valid defenses and intends to vigorously defend itself against ON Semiconductor’s claims. On November 1, 2016, the Company filed a lawsuit against ON Semiconductor in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California to address ON Semiconductor’s infringement of six patents. No date has been set for trial, but ON Semiconductor has filed a motion requesting that the case be transferred to Arizona, an issue that will be addressed in the coming months. On December 27, 2016, ON Semiconductor filed a complaint against the Company in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. In its complaint, ON Semiconductor alleges that the Company has infringed and is infringing six patents and requests injunctive relief. The Company has not yet answered ON Semiconductor’s complaint, and no date has been set for trial, but the Company believes it has valid defenses and intends to vigorously defend itself against ON Semiconductor’s claims. The Company is unable to predict the outcome of legal proceedings with certainty, and there can be no assurance that Power Integrations will prevail in the above-mentioned unsettled litigations. These litigations, whether or not determined in Power Integrations’ favor or settled, will be costly and will divert the efforts and attention of the Company’s management and technical personnel from normal business operations, potentially causing a material adverse effect on the business, financial condition and operating results. Currently, the Company is not able to estimate a loss or a range of loss for the ongoing litigation disclosed above, however adverse determinations in litigation could result in monetary losses, the loss of proprietary rights, subject the Company to significant liabilities, require Power Integrations to seek licenses from third parties or prevent the Company from licensing the technology, any of which could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition and operating results.

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