Contract analysis

1. This is an action for patent infringement under 35 U.S.C. § 271 brought by Optiwave Semiconductor Corp. ("OWS" or "Plaintiff") against Lumos Photonics, Inc. ("Lumos" or "Defendant"). OWS brings this action to protect its intellectual property rights in patented silicon photonics technologies that it has developed through years of research, innovation, and substantial investment.

2. OWS seeks damages, enhanced damages for willful infringement, injunctive relief, attorneys' fees, and costs arising from Lumos's infringement of four United States patents: U.S. Patent No. 10,234,567 ("the '567 Patent"); U.S. Patent No. 10,891,234 ("the '234 Patent"); U.S. Patent No. 11,045,678 ("the '678 Patent"); and U.S. Patent No. 11,312,890 ("the '890 Patent") (collectively, the "Patents-in-Suit"). Each of th

3. Lumos has infringed and continues to infringe the Patents-in-Suit through the manufacture, use, sale, offer for sale, and importation of its LumosBridge™ 800G Optical Engine and LumosEdge™ 400ZR+ Pluggable Transceiver products (the "Accused Products"). On information and belief, Lumos's infringement has been willful and deliberate, and Lumos has continued its infringing activities despite receiving actual notice o

II. THE PARTIES A. Plaintiff Optiwave Semiconductor Corp.

4. Optiwave Semiconductor Corp. is a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the State of Delaware, with its principal place of business at 2775 Augustine Drive, Suite 400, San Jose, California 95054. OWS's headquarters are located within this judicial district.

5. OWS is a fabless semiconductor design company specializing in silicon photonics integrated circuits for data center interconnects and telecommunications applications. OWS was founded in 2014 and has since established itself as a leading innovator in the field of silicon photonics, developing highly integrated optical transceiver chipsets and photonic integrated circuits that enable the next generation of high-band

6. OWS's key products include the OWS-400ZR and OWS-800LR coherent optical transceiver chipsets and integrated silicon photonics engines for co-packaged optics. These products are deployed by major hyperscale cloud service providers, telecommunications carriers, and enterprise networking customers worldwide to support the rapidly growing demand for data center bandwidth.

7. OWS's silicon photonics chips are fabricated by Pinnacle Semiconductor Foundry Co., Ltd. ("Pinnacle") on Pinnacle's 45nm silicon-on-insulator (SOI) process. OWS maintains a close foundry relationship with Pinnacle that enables it to leverage advanced process technologies while focusing its internal resources on design innovation, architectural development, and intellectual property creation.

8. OWS generated revenue of approximately $187.4 million in fiscal year 2022 and employs approximately 620 people, including over 350 engineers across its design, verification, applications, and systems engineering teams. OWS has experienced significant revenue growth as the demand for silicon photonics solutions in data center applications has accelerated.

9. OWS owns a robust portfolio of 87 issued U.S. utility patents and 14 pending applications concentrated in waveguide coupling, germanium-on-silicon photodetectors, and modulator driver architectures. OWS has invested tens of millions of dollars in research and development to build this patent portfolio, which reflects core innovations that underpin the company's commercial products and represent fundamental advance

10. OWS is the owner by assignment of all right, title, and interest in the Patents-in-Suit. OWS possesses the right and standing to bring this action and to recover for past and future infringement of the Patents-in-Suit. B. Defendant Lumos Photonics, Inc.

11. Lumos Photonics, Inc. is a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the State of Delaware, with its principal place of business at 9400 McNeil Drive, Building 7, Austin, Texas 78758.

12. Lumos is an integrated device manufacturer (IDM) of silicon photonics components for hyperscale data centers. Lumos was founded in 2016 and designs, fabricates, packages, and sells silicon photonics-based optical transceivers and co-packaged optics engines to hyperscale cloud service providers, colocation operators, and telecommunications carriers.

13. Lumos is publicly traded on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the ticker symbol "LMPH" since its initial public offering in 2021. As of the filing of this Complaint, Lumos has an approximate market capitalization of $1.87 billion. Lumos has publicly touted its silicon photonics technology and its competitive position in the high-speed optical transceiver market in its SEC filings, earnings calls, and marketing mate

14. Lumos generated revenue of approximately $312.8 million in fiscal year 2022 and employs approximately 1,450 people. Lumos is a significant competitor to OWS in the silicon photonics market for data center interconnect applications.

15. Lumos maintains a fabrication facility at 3200 NE Shute Road, Hillsboro, Oregon 97124. On information and belief, the Accused Products are manufactured, at least in part, at this facility using silicon photonics fabrication processes that incorporate the patented technologies of the Patents-in-Suit.

16. Lumos maintains a sales office and engineering center at 4750 Great America Parkway, Suite 320, Santa Clara, California 95054, within this judicial district. On information and belief, Lumos employs sales personnel, field applications engineers, and design engineers at this location, and Lumos uses this facility to engage with customers, demonstrate products, provide technical support, and conduct engineering act

17. James "Jim" Harrelson serves as Lumos's Chief Executive Officer. Dr. Mei-Lin Chen serves as its Chief Technology Officer. Richard Talbot serves as its General Counsel. On information and belief, each of these individuals has knowledge of Lumos's silicon photonics technology and the Accused Products.

18. This Court has subject matter jurisdiction over this action under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and 1338(a) because this action arises under the patent laws of the United States, 35 U.S.C. § 1 et seq. This Court has authority to award the relief sought herein, including damages, injunctive relief, attorneys' fees, and costs.

19. This Court has personal jurisdiction over Lumos. Lumos is registered to do business in California and maintains a continuous and systematic presence in this State. Lumos maintains permanent employees in Santa Clara, California. Lumos maintains a sales office and engineering center at 4750 Great America Parkway, Suite 320, Santa Clara, California 95054. On information and belief, Lumos generates approximately 22%

20. Venue is proper in this judicial district under 28 U.S.C. § 1400(b). Lumos has a regular and established place of business in this District at its Santa Clara office located at 4750 Great America Parkway, Suite 320, Santa Clara, California 95054. On information and belief, this office is staffed by Lumos employees on a permanent basis, is held out to the public as a Lumos facility, and is used to conduct Lumos's

IV. BACKGROUND FACTS A. OWS's Innovation in Silicon Photonics

21. OWS is a pioneer in silicon photonics technology, having developed foundational innovations in the design and integration of optical components on silicon substrates. OWS was co-founded in 2014 by Dr. Priya Ramanathan and Dr. Kevin Fong. Dr. Ramanathan serves as OWS's Chief Executive Officer and holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering with a specialization in photonics from Stanford University, where her doctoral

22. Since its founding, OWS has invested heavily in research and development, dedicating approximately 28% of its annual revenue to R&D activities. Through these sustained investments, OWS has built an extensive patent portfolio of 87 issued U.S. utility patents and 14 pending applications covering fundamental aspects of silicon photonics technology. OWS's patent portfolio reflects the depth and breadth of its techni

23. The Patents-in-Suit represent core innovations in waveguide coupling, photodetector architectures, wavelength-division multiplexing integration, and modulator driver circuits—foundational technologies for high-speed optical transceivers used in data center interconnects. These patented technologies address critical challenges in the design and manufacture of silicon photonics devices, including efficient fiber-to

24. Lumos manufactures and sells the LumosBridge™ 800G Optical Engine, a co-packaged optics engine designed for hyperscale data center switches. The LumosBridge is a silicon photonics-based optical engine that integrates multiple optical channels onto a single silicon die, enabling 800 Gbps aggregate data rates for next-generation switch ASICs. On information and belief, the LumosBridge was first shipped to customers

25. Lumos also manufactures and sells the LumosEdge™ 400ZR+ Pluggable Transceiver, a QSFP-DD form factor pluggable transceiver module for metro and data center interconnect (DCI) applications. The LumosEdge is designed to enable coherent optical transmission over distances of up to 120 kilometers in a compact, hot-pluggable module and has been in production since Q3 2021, with a unit price range of approximately $600

26. On information and belief, combined revenue from the Accused Products during calendar year 2022 was approximately $148.6 million. Revenue from the Accused Products during Q1–Q2 2022 alone was approximately $62.3 million. On information and belief, Lumos continues to manufacture, market, sell, offer for sale, and import the Accused Products in increasing volumes as demand for high-speed optical transceivers in dat

27. On March 15, 2022, OWS sent Lumos a detailed cease-and-desist letter identifying the '567 Patent and the '234 Patent and informing Lumos that its LumosBridge and LumosEdge products infringed those patents. The letter included specific claim charts mapping representative claims of the '567 Patent and the '234 Patent to features of the Accused Products as disclosed in Lumos's publicly available product documentatio

28. On April 4, 2022, Lumos, through its General Counsel, Richard Talbot, responded to OWS's cease-and-desist letter. In its response, Lumos denied infringement and asserted that OWS's patents were invalid. Lumos did not provide any substantive technical or legal analysis to support its conclusory denials. Lumos declined OWS's invitation to engage in licensing discussions.

29. Despite receiving actual notice of its infringement of the '567 Patent and the '234 Patent, and despite having full knowledge of the specific basis for OWS's infringement allegations, Lumos has continued to make, use, sell, offer for sale, and import the Accused Products without authorization from OWS. On information and belief, Lumos has not undertaken any design-around efforts or obtained a competent opinion of

V. THE PATENTS-IN-SUIT A. U.S. Patent No. 10,234,567 (the '567 Patent)

30. On March 19, 2019, the United States Patent and Trademark Office duly and legally issued U.S. Patent No. 10,234,567, entitled "Integrated Waveguide Coupler with Tapered Mode Converter for Silicon Photonics Platforms." The application for the '567 Patent was filed on March 14, 2017, bearing Application No. 15/458,329. The '567 Patent issued from a thorough examination by the USPTO, during which the claims were rev

31. The '567 Patent names Dr. Kevin Fong, Dr. Priya Ramanathan, and Hideo Tanaka as inventors. Each of the named inventors contributed to the conception and reduction to practice of the inventions claimed in the '567 Patent during the course of their employment with OWS.

32. OWS is the owner by assignment of all right, title, and interest in the '567 Patent. Each of the named inventors has assigned his or her rights in the '567 Patent to OWS, and such assignments have been duly recorded with the USPTO.

33. The '567 Patent has been in full force and effect at all relevant times herein and has not expired. All required maintenance fees have been timely paid.

34. A true and correct copy of the '567 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit A and incorporated herein by reference.

35. The '567 Patent is directed to an integrated optical coupler comprising a tapered silicon waveguide coupled to a silicon nitride waveguide layer, addressing the critical technical challenge of efficient fiber-to-chip optical coupling in silicon photonics platforms. The inventions of the '567 Patent overcome longstanding problems associated with the large mode-field mismatch between standard single-mode optical fi

36. On January 14, 2021, the United States Patent and Trademark Office duly and legally issued U.S. Patent No. 10,891,234, entitled "Germanium-on-Silicon Photodetector with Graded Buffer Layer for Enhanced Responsivity." The application for the '234 Patent was filed on September 8, 2017, bearing Application No. 15/699,214. The '234 Patent issued from a thorough examination by the USPTO, during which the claims were r

37. The '234 Patent names Dr. Kevin Fong and Dr. Amara Osei as inventors. Each of the named inventors contributed to the conception and reduction to practice of the inventions claimed in the '234 Patent during the course of their employment with OWS.

38. OWS is the owner by assignment of all right, title, and interest in the '234 Patent. Each of the named inventors has assigned his or her rights in the '234 Patent to OWS, and such assignments have been duly recorded with the USPTO.

39. The '234 Patent has been in full force and effect at all relevant times herein and has not expired. All required maintenance fees have been timely paid.

40. A true and correct copy of the '234 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit B and incorporated herein by reference.

41. The '234 Patent is directed to a germanium-on-silicon photodetector featuring a graded buffer layer with a continuously varying germanium concentration for enhanced responsivity. The inventions of the '234 Patent address the significant technical challenge of reducing threading dislocation defects in epitaxially grown germanium absorber layers on silicon substrates. Such defects, which arise from the lattice mism

42. On June 29, 2021, the United States Patent and Trademark Office duly and legally issued U.S. Patent No. 11,045,678, entitled "Multi-Channel Optical Transceiver with Integrated Wavelength-Division Multiplexing on Silicon." The application for the '678 Patent was filed on June 22, 2018, bearing Application No. 16/015,482. The '678 Patent issued from a thorough examination by the USPTO, during which the claims were

43. The '678 Patent names Dr. Priya Ramanathan, Dr. Amara Osei, and Liwei Zhang as inventors. Each of the named inventors contributed to the conception and reduction to practice of the inventions claimed in the '678 Patent during the course of their employment with OWS.

44. OWS is the owner by assignment of all right, title, and interest in the '678 Patent. Each of the named inventors has assigned his or her rights in the '678 Patent to OWS, and such assignments have been duly recorded with the USPTO.

45. The '678 Patent has been in full force and effect at all relevant times herein and has not expired. All required maintenance fees have been timely paid.

46. A true and correct copy of the '678 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit C and incorporated herein by reference.

47. The '678 Patent is directed to a multi-channel optical transceiver with an integrated wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) element monolithically formed on a single silicon die, enabling high-bandwidth-density optical interconnects. The inventions of the '678 Patent address the significant challenge of scaling optical transceiver bandwidth while maintaining a compact form factor suitable for co-packaged optics

48. On April 26, 2022, the United States Patent and Trademark Office duly and legally issued U.S. Patent No. 11,312,890, entitled "Driver Circuit Architecture for High-Speed Silicon Photonic Mach-Zehnder Modulators." The application for the '890 Patent was filed on November 15, 2018, bearing Application No. 16/192,831. The '890 Patent issued from a thorough examination by the USPTO, during which the claims were revie

49. The '890 Patent names Dr. Kevin Fong and Rajesh Iyer as inventors. Each of the named inventors contributed to the conception and reduction to practice of the inventions claimed in the '890 Patent during the course of their employment with OWS.

50. OWS is the owner by assignment of all right, title, and interest in the '890 Patent. Each of the named inventors has assigned his or her rights in the '890 Patent to OWS, and such assignments have been duly recorded with the USPTO.

51. The '890 Patent has been in full force and effect at all relevant times herein and has not expired. All required maintenance fees have been timely paid.

52. A true and correct copy of the '890 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit D and incorporated herein by reference.

53. The '890 Patent is directed to a driver circuit architecture featuring a pre-emphasis equalization stage electrically co-integrated with a silicon photonic Mach-Zehnder modulator on a common substrate, enabling high-speed modulation with reduced signal integrity degradation. The inventions of the '890 Patent address the critical challenge of driving silicon photonic Mach-Zehnder modulators at data rates of 100 Gb

VI. COUNTS COUNT I — INFRINGEMENT OF U.S. PATENT NO. 10,234,567

54. OWS incorporates by reference paragraphs 1 through 53 of this Complaint as if fully set forth herein.