Patent Infringement Complaint Seeks Injunction Blocking Nanosys QD Production

Nanosys produces quantum-dot materials at its Silicon Valley facility using processes that infringe a 13-year-old patent on nanocrystal manufacturing, alleged technology developer NNCrystal US in a complaint (in Pacer) Monday in U.S. District Court in Wilmington, Delaware. NNCrystal has “an exclusive license” to U.S. patent 7,105,051, and “the right to sue for infringement,” it said. Nanosys immediately denied the allegations. The patent, granted in September 2006, was assigned to the University of Arkansas, where Xiaogang Peng, one of the patent's three listed inventors, was a chemistry professor. Peng left teaching and founded NNCrystal, formerly NN-Labs, in 2001 to commercialize his inventions, said a company backgrounder. Before the development of the technology described in the patent, “the lack of adequate methods for producing high-quality nanocrystals hampered the development of nanocrystal-based emitters,” said the complaint. Earlier methods “provided irreproducible results, low-quality crystals, high polydispersity, and/or unacceptable levels of impurities,” it said. The patented technology established for the first time that “non-coordinating solvents could be used to produce high-quality, small, highly monodisperse nanocrystals, with the added benefits of a safer, more environmentally friendly, and less costly process,” it said. NNCrystal is entitled to compensatory and treble punitive damages because Nanosys has “willfully infringed” the patent, said the complaint. It also seeks a permanent injunction blocking Nanosys from producing the quantum-dot materials. "Nanosys believes NNCrystal’s claims are without merit and we will vociferously defend ourselves against this lawsuit," emailed CEO Jason Hartlove Monday through spokesperson Jeff Yurek. "As the leading provider of quantum dot materials and technology, Nanosys maintains the world’s largest independent quantum dot patent portfolio. We continue to offer our global customers the best quantum dot solutions in the market.”