Contract analysis

1. This is an action for patent infringement arising under the Patent Laws of the United States, Title 35 of the United States Code, Sections 1 et seq.

2. Plaintiff Optiwave Semiconductor Corp. is a leading innovator and manufacturer of silicon photonics chipsets for data-center interconnects. OWS holds 142 issued United States patents and 58 pending patent applications directed to silicon photonics technologies, including optical transceivers, waveguide multiplexing architectures, photonic integrated circuit thermal management, and grating coupler designs. OWS is t

3. Defendant Lumicore Technologies, Inc. is a fast-growing competitor in the silicon-photonics transceiver market. Since its founding in 2015, Lumicore has developed and sold products that compete directly with OWS's products in the market for high-speed optical transceiver modules used in hyperscale data centers and telecommunications networks. As set forth in this Complaint, Lumicore has developed and sold products

4. The accused products are Lumicore's LumiLink 400G-ZR+, LumiLink 800G-DR8, and LumiEdge 1600G-LR transceiver modules (collectively, the "Accused Products"). Each of these products incorporates technology covered by one or more of the Asserted Patents. In aggregate, the Accused Products generated approximately $264.9 million in revenue for Lumicore in fiscal year 2023 alone, representing the substantial majority of

5. Prior to filing this action, OWS made extensive good-faith efforts to resolve this dispute. OWS provided Lumicore with pre-suit notice of infringement through its licensing agent, FairPoint Licensing Group, LLC, beginning on January 15, 2023. OWS's pre-suit communications included two detailed licensing letters with specific claim charts demonstrating infringement and an in-person meeting at which infringement evi

6. OWS asserts claims for direct infringement under 35 U.S.C. § 271(a), induced infringement under 35 U.S.C. § 271(b), contributory infringement under 35 U.S.C. § 271(c), and willful infringement warranting enhanced damages under 35 U.S.C. § 284. OWS alleges literal infringement of the asserted claims and, as to certain claims of the '193 Patent and the '015 Patent, infringement under the doctrine of equivalents.

II. THE PARTIES A. Plaintiff Optiwave Semiconductor Corp.

7. Plaintiff Optiwave Semiconductor Corp. ("OWS") is a corporation duly organized and existing under the laws of the State of Delaware. OWS maintains its principal place of business and headquarters at 4810 Bayside Technology Parkway, Suite 300, Santa Clara, California 95054. OWS's registered agent in Delaware is Capitol Statutory Services, Inc., located at 1209 Orange Street, Wilmington, Delaware 19801. OWS's Employ

8. OWS was founded in 2011 and has grown to employ approximately 1,250 employees across its design, engineering, manufacturing, and administrative functions. OWS reported fiscal year 2023 revenue of $487.3 million and fiscal year 2023 net income of $61.4 million, as reflected in audited financial statements prepared by Gresham & Whitfield LLP, OWS's independent public accounting firm.

9. OWS's executive leadership includes Dr. Priya Ramaswamy, Chief Executive Officer; Dr. Jian-Wei Huang, Chief Technology Officer; Rebecca Tanaka, General Counsel; Dr. Nikolai Petrov, Vice President of Engineering (Photonics Division); and David Leitner, Chief Financial Officer. The Chair of OWS's Board of Directors is Franklin Osei, a designee of Ridgeline Capital Partners, LP. Ridgeline Capital Partners holds a 55%

10. OWS's key product lines include the OWS-400ZR, OWS-800XR, and OWS-1600DR transceiver module families, which are designed for use in hyperscale data centers and telecommunications networks. These product lines embody the inventions covered by the Asserted Patents and have achieved substantial commercial success, generating approximately $310 million in revenue in fiscal year 2023.

11. OWS is the owner by assignment of all right, title, and interest in the Asserted Patents, including the exclusive right to sue for past, present, and future infringement. OWS possesses all substantial rights in each of the Asserted Patents, as described further in Section V below. B. Defendant Lumicore Technologies, Inc.

12. Defendant Lumicore Technologies, Inc. ("Lumicore") is a corporation duly organized and existing under the laws of the State of Delaware. Lumicore maintains its principal place of business and headquarters at 9200 Spectrum Boulevard, Building C, Austin, Texas 78759. Lumicore's registered agent in Delaware is National Agent Services Corp., located at 850 New Burton Road, Suite 201, Dover, Delaware 19904. Lumicore's

13. Lumicore was founded in 2015 and has grown to employ approximately 870 employees. Lumicore designs, manufactures, and sells silicon-photonics transceiver modules and related components for data-center and telecommunications applications. Lumicore's estimated fiscal year 2023 revenue was approximately $312.6 million.

14. Lumicore completed its initial public offering on the Nasdaq Stock Market in March 2022 at a price of $24.00 per share. As of the date of this filing, Lumicore's share price is approximately $37.00 per share, with approximately 91.8 million shares outstanding, resulting in a market capitalization of approximately $3.4 billion.

15. Lumicore's executive leadership includes Thomas "Tom" Kessler, Chief Executive Officer; Dr. Sandra Michaud, Chief Technology Officer; Raymond Bautista, General Counsel; Dr. Eric Dalmqvist, Vice President of Product Development; and Janet Moreno, Chief Financial Officer.

16. On information and belief, Lumicore makes, uses, sells, offers for sale in the United States, and/or imports into the United States the Accused Products identified herein, including the LumiLink 400G-ZR+, LumiLink 800G-DR8, and LumiEdge 1600G-LR transceiver modules. On information and belief, Lumicore manufactures the Accused Products at its facilities in Austin, Texas and at contract manufacturing facilities abr

17. This Court has subject matter jurisdiction over this action pursuant to 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 grant declaratory and injunctive relief pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 2201 and 2202, and to award damages and other relief under 35 U.S.C. §§ 283, 284, and 285.

18. This Court has personal jurisdiction over Lumicore. Lumicore is subject to the personal jurisdiction of this Court because Lumicore: (a) is registered to do business in the State of Texas; (b) maintains a sales office and technical support center at 2700 Earl Campbell Parkway, Suite 150, Tyler, Texas 75701, within this judicial district; (c) has sold, offered for sale, and/or imported the Accused Products in this

19. Lumicore's contacts with this judicial district are continuous and systematic, and are sufficient to confer both general and specific personal jurisdiction. Lumicore's acts of infringement have been committed in and have caused injury within this judicial district. Lumicore has purposefully availed itself of the privilege of conducting business within the State of Texas and within this judicial district, and the

20. Venue is proper in the Eastern District of Texas pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1400(b) because Lumicore has committed acts of infringement in this judicial district and has a regular and established place of business in this judicial district.

21. Lumicore has committed acts of infringement in this judicial district by making, using, selling, offering for sale, and/or importing the Accused Products within the Eastern District of Texas, including through sales to customers located in this judicial district.

22. Lumicore has a regular and established place of business in this judicial district, specifically its sales office and technical support center located at 2700 Earl Campbell Parkway, Suite 150, Tyler, Texas 75701. On information and belief, Lumicore has maintained this facility continuously since at least 2021. The facility is staffed by Lumicore employees who conduct sales, provide technical support to customers,

23. In addition, Lumicore has sold Accused Products to at least three customers with facilities in this judicial district, including: (a) Pinnacle Data Systems, LLC, located at 1800 Judson Road, Longview, Texas 75601; (b) Frontier Cloud Services, Inc., located at 400 East Houston Street, marshall, Texas 75670; and (c) CrossPoint Networking Corp., located at 7500 Dallas Parkway, Suite 200, Plano, Texas 75024 (transfer

24. On information and belief, each of these customers has purchased and deployed Accused Products at the facilities identified above, and Lumicore has provided technical support and integration assistance to these customers in connection with the deployment of the Accused Products.

V. THE ASSERTED PATENTS A. The '847 Patent (U.S. Patent No. 10,234,847)

25. On March 19, 2019, the United States Patent and Trademark Office ("USPTO") duly and legally issued U.S. Patent No. 10,234,847, entitled "Multi-Channel Silicon Photonic Waveguide Multiplexer with Low Insertion Loss" (the "'847 Patent"). The '847 Patent was filed on September 14, 2016. The '847 Patent was originally assigned to Optiwave Semiconductor Corp., and OWS remains the current assignee of the '847 Patent.

26. The '847 Patent is a utility patent directed to inventive waveguide multiplexer architectures for silicon photonics platforms. The '847 Patent describes and claims novel multi-channel waveguide multiplexer structures that achieve low insertion loss while maintaining high channel isolation, addressing critical performance challenges in high-bandwidth optical transceiver designs. The named inventors of the '847 Pat

27. The '847 Patent is in the same patent family as the '562 Patent. Specifically, the '847 Patent is a continuation of Application No. 14/552,901, filed November 22, 2014, which issued as the '562 Patent. The '847 Patent and the '562 Patent share a common specification and priority date.

28. The '847 Patent has been maintained in full force and effect, and all required maintenance fees have been timely paid. The '847 Patent has not been the subject of any reexamination, reissue, or inter partes review proceeding.

29. A true and correct copy of the '847 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit A and is incorporated herein by reference. B. The '193 Patent (U.S. Patent No. 10,891,193)

30. On January 12, 2021, the USPTO duly and legally issued U.S. Patent No. 10,891,193, entitled "High-Bandwidth Coherent Optical Transceiver Integrated on Silicon Substrate" (the "'193 Patent"). The '193 Patent was filed on April 7, 2017. The '193 Patent was originally assigned to Optiwave Semiconductor Corp., and OWS remains the current assignee of the '193 Patent.

31. The '193 Patent is a utility patent directed to high-bandwidth coherent optical transceiver architectures that are monolithically integrated on a silicon substrate. The '193 Patent describes and claims novel transceiver designs that integrate coherent detection and modulation functionalities on a single silicon photonic chip, enabling high data-rate optical communications with reduced size, power consumption, and

32. The '193 Patent claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/499,117, filed on April 7, 2017. The '193 Patent shares this common provisional application with the '015 Patent, as described below.

33. The '193 Patent has been maintained in full force and effect, and all required maintenance fees have been timely paid. The '193 Patent has not been the subject of any reexamination, reissue, or inter partes review proceeding.

34. A true and correct copy of the '193 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit B and is incorporated herein by reference. C. The '562 Patent (U.S. Patent No. 9,678,562)

35. On June 13, 2017, the USPTO duly and legally issued U.S. Patent No. 9,678,562, entitled "Method for Thermal Management of Photonic Integrated Circuits Using Embedded Micro-Channel Heat Sinks" (the "'562 Patent"). The '562 Patent was filed on November 22, 2014. The '562 Patent was originally assigned to Solara Optics, Inc.

36. The '562 Patent is a utility patent directed to methods and structures for managing thermal dissipation in photonic integrated circuits through the use of embedded micro-channel heat sinks. The '562 Patent describes and claims novel thermal management approaches that enable photonic integrated circuits to operate at higher power levels and data rates without performance degradation due to thermal effects. These i

37. OWS is the current assignee of the '562 Patent. OWS acquired all right, title, and interest in the '562 Patent from Solara Optics, Inc. pursuant to an Asset Purchase Agreement dated June 15, 2018 (the "Solara APA"). The Solara APA was executed for a total consideration of $34.5 million and conveyed twelve patents from Solara Optics to OWS, including the '562 Patent. The assignment of the '562 Patent was duly reco

38. The '562 Patent is in the same patent family as the '847 Patent. Specifically, the '847 Patent is a continuation of the application that issued as the '562 Patent. The '562 Patent and the '847 Patent share a common specification and priority date.

39. The '562 Patent has been maintained in full force and effect, and all required maintenance fees have been timely paid. The '562 Patent has not been the subject of any reexamination, reissue, or inter partes review proceeding.

40. A true and correct copy of the '562 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit C and is incorporated herein by reference. D. The '015 Patent (U.S. Patent No. 11,402,015)

41. On August 2, 2022, the USPTO duly and legally issued U.S. Patent No. 11,402,015, entitled "Polarization-Diverse Grating Coupler for Silicon Photonic Transceivers" (the "'015 Patent"). The '015 Patent was filed on August 30, 2019. The '015 Patent was originally assigned to Optiwave Semiconductor Corp., and OWS remains the current assignee of the '015 Patent.

42. The '015 Patent is a utility patent directed to polarization-diverse grating coupler designs for silicon photonic transceivers. The '015 Patent describes and claims novel grating coupler structures that efficiently couple light into and out of silicon photonic waveguides while accommodating both polarization states, thereby improving the performance and reliability of silicon photonic transceiver modules. The nam

43. The '015 Patent claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/499,117, filed on April 7, 2017. The '015 Patent shares this common provisional application with the '193 Patent, as described above.

44. The '015 Patent has been maintained in full force and effect, and all required maintenance fees have been timely paid. The '015 Patent has not been the subject of any reexamination, reissue, or inter partes review proceeding.

45. A true and correct copy of the '015 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit D and is incorporated herein by reference. E. Chain of Title

46. OWS is the owner by assignment of all right, title, and interest in the '847 Patent, the '193 Patent, and the '015 Patent. Each of these patents was originally assigned to OWS by the named inventors pursuant to written assignments that were duly recorded with the USPTO.

47. OWS acquired all right, title, and interest in the '562 Patent from Solara Optics, Inc. pursuant to the Solara APA dated June 15, 2018. The assignment of the '562 Patent was duly recorded with the USPTO, and OWS possesses all rights of the original assignee, including the right to sue for past infringement.

48. OWS possesses all substantial rights in each of the Asserted Patents, including the exclusive right to make, use, sell, offer for sale, and import products covered by the patents; the exclusive right to license the patents; and the exclusive right to sue for past, present, and future infringement. OWS has not granted any exclusive licenses under the Asserted Patents that would divest it of standing to bring this

49. All four of the Asserted Patents were prosecuted before the USPTO by Cascade IP Advisors, LLC, with Dr. Martin Chu serving as lead prosecution attorney. The prosecution histories of the Asserted Patents reflect that each patent was examined on the merits and issued over the prior art cited during prosecution.

50. No inter partes review petitions have been filed against any of the Asserted Patents to date. None of the Asserted Patents has been the subject of any post-grant review, ex parte reexamination, or other validity challenge before the USPTO or any court.

51. Lumicore has made, used, sold, offered for sale in the United States, and/or imported into the United States three product lines that infringe the Asserted Patents: the LumiLink 400G-ZR+, the LumiLink 800G-DR8, and the LumiEdge 1600G-LR (collectively, the "Accused Products"). Each of these products is described below. A. LumiLink 400G-ZR+

52. The LumiLink 400G-ZR+ is a 400-gigabit coherent optical transceiver module designed for data-center and metro network applications. On information and belief, the LumiLink 400G-ZR+ utilizes silicon photonics technology, including integrated waveguide multiplexer structures, coherent transceiver circuitry integrated on a silicon substrate, and embedded micro-channel heat-sink structures, to achieve high-bandwidth

53. On information and belief, Lumicore launched the LumiLink 400G-ZR+ in Q3 2022. The LumiLink 400G-ZR+ generated estimated revenue of approximately $94.8 million in fiscal year 2023, as reported in Lumicore's segment disclosures in its public filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

54. The LumiLink 400G-ZR+ is accused of infringing the '847 Patent, the '193 Patent, and the '562 Patent, as set forth in detail in Counts I, II, and III below. B. LumiLink 800G-DR8