Case 1:18-cv-00554-LY Document 1 Filed 07/02/18 Page 1 of 8
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`UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
`WESTERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS
`AUSTIN DIVISION
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`AQUILA INNOVATIONS, INC., a
`Delaware corporation,
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`Plaintiff,
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`v.
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`ADVANCED MICRO DEVICES, INC., a
`Delaware corporation
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`Defendant.
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`No. 1:18-cv-554
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`DEMAND FOR JURY TRIAL
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`ORIGINAL COMPLAINT FOR PATENT INFRINGEMENT
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`Aquila Innovations, Inc. (“Aquila”) files this Complaint against Advanced Micro
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`Devices, Inc. (“AMD”), for its infringement of United States Patents 6,239,614 and 6,895,519.
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`Aquila alleges as follows:
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`PARTIES
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`1.
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`Aquila Innovations, Inc. is a Delaware corporation with its principal place of
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`business at 15090 Avenue of Science, Suite 103, San Diego, California 92128.
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`2.
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`Upon information and belief, AMD is a Delaware corporation doing business in
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`Texas with offices in Austin, Texas, and principle executive offices in Sunnyvale, California.
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`AMD may be served in Texas via its registered agent CT Corporation System, 1999 Bryan St.,
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`Ste. 900, Dallas, TX 75201.
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`JURISDICTION
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`3.
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`Aquila brings this action under the patent laws of the United States, 35 U.S.C. § 1
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`et. seq. This Court has subject matter jurisdiction over this action under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331,
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`Case 1:18-cv-00554-LY Document 1 Filed 07/02/18 Page 2 of 8
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`1332(a)(2), and 1338(a).
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`VENUE
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`4.
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`Venue is proper in this District under 28 U.S.C. § 1400(b). AMD has sold,
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`offered to sell, and used in this District, products that practice or embody one or more claims of
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`each of the patents in suit, as discussed more fully herein. AMD’s location in Austin, Texas is a
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`regular and established place of business in this District. AMD reports that its Austin location is
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`its “largest facility by headcount,” and has “more employees than the rest of its U.S. facilities
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`combined.”
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`THE PATENTS IN SUIT
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`5.
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`On May 29, 2001 the United States Patent and Trademark Office duly and legally
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`issued United States Patent No. 6,239,614 B2 (“the ’614 Patent”), which is entitled
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`“Semiconductor Integrated Circuit Device,” and identifies Koichi Morikawa as the sole inventor.
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`A true and correct copy of the ’614 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit A. The ’614 Patent has
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`been assigned to Plaintiff Aquila. Aquila holds all right, title, and interest in the ’614 Patent,
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`including the right to sue for and receive damages for past, present and future infringement of the
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`’614 Patent.
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`6.
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`On May 17, 2005, the United States Patent and Trademark Office duly and legally
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`issued United States Patent No. 6,895,519 B2 (“the ’519 Patent”), which is entitled “System
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`LSI” and identifies Hitoshi Endo as the sole inventor. A true and correct copy of the ’519 Patent
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`is attached hereto as Exhibit B. The ’519 Patent has been assigned to Plaintiff Aquila. Aquila
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`holds all right, title, and interest in the ’519 Patent, including the right to sue for and receive
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`damages for past, present and future infringement of the ’519 Patent.
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`7.
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` Aquila has offered to license the ’614 and ’519 Patents to AMD. Aquila has
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`engaged in numerous discussions with AMD, through correspondence and in person and
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`telephonic meetings spanning several months, but AMD has not agreed to pay a reasonable
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`royalty to license the patents in suit despite several good-faith offers from Aquila. Aquila has
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`therefore been compelled to file this suit to protect its rights.
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`Case 1:18-cv-00554-LY Document 1 Filed 07/02/18 Page 3 of 8
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`FIRST CLAIM FOR RELIEF
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`Infringement of U.S. Patent No. 6,239,614
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`8.
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`Aquila realleges and incorporates by reference the allegations of paragraphs 1-6,
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`inclusive, as if set forth in full herein.
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`9.
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`AMD has infringed, and continues to infringe, at least claims 1 and 2 of the ’614
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`Patent. AMD makes, uses, offers to sell, or sells, within the United States or imports into the
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`United States, products with cores using
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`the Bulldozer, Excavator, or Piledriver
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`microarchitectures, including but not limited to the AMD A-Series Processors integrating
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`Excavator CPU cores, A-Series PRO Processors integrating Excavator CPU cores, FX-Series
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`Processors integrating Piledriver and Bulldozer CPU cores (“’614 Representative Accused
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`Products”) that meet each and every limitation of claims 1 and 2.
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`10.
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`By way of example, the AMD A10-8700P APU is depicted below:
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`11.
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`The ’614 Representative Accused Products are each a semiconductor integrated
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`circuit device. The cells in the cores that have regular voltage threshold (RVT) are a plurality of
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`first unit cells each including a plurality of first MOS transistors, each of the first MOS
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`transistors having a first threshold voltage. The cells in the core having high voltage threshold
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`(HVT) are a plurality of second unit cells each including a plurality of second MOS transistors,
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`Case 1:18-cv-00554-LY Document 1 Filed 07/02/18 Page 4 of 8
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`each of the second MOS transistors having a second threshold voltage. The RVT and HVT cells
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`in the cores are laid in array form. A power gate ring having high voltage threshold is disposed
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`around the unit cell array and has a plurality of third MOS transistors. A plurality of input/output
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`circuits are disposed around said unit cell array.
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`12.
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`Said power switch is turned off during standby in Core C6 state (CC6 state) and
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`turned on when taken active in C0 state.
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`13.
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`Other AMD products similarly infringe one or more claims of the ’614 Patent.
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`Aquila accuses of infringement all AMD products that contain features and functions similar to
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`those described above and that practice one or more claims of the ’614 Patent.
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`14.
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`AMD has induced and continues to induce infringement of one or more claims of
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`the ’614 Patent, including, but not limited to, Claims 1 and 2, by encouraging its customers and
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`other third parties to use AMD’s infringing products. This use of AMD’s infringing products,
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`constitutes infringement of one or more claims of the ’614 Patent by such customers or third
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`parties. AMD’s acts of inducement include: providing its customers with the ’614 Patent
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`Infringing Products and intending its customers to use the ’614 Infringing Products with
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`hardware, software, and other infrastructure that enable and/or make use of these products;
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`advertising these products through its own and third-party websites; encouraging customers and
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`other third parties to communicate directly with AMD representatives about these products; and
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`providing instructions on how to use these products.
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`15.
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`AMD has had notice of the ’614 Patent and of the infringement of the ’614 Patent
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`for more than one year. Before initiating litigation, Aquila made substantial efforts to license the
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`’614 Patent to AMD. AMD has refused to pay a reasonable royalty to license the ’614 Patent
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`and continues to infringe one or more claims of the ’614 Patent despite being aware of its
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`infringement of the ’614 Patent on the basis of claim charts provided by Aquila and subsequent
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`discussions between the parties. AMD’s infringement of the ’614 Patent has therefore been, and
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`continues to be knowing, willful, and deliberate and has caused and continues to cause
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`substantial damage to Aquila.
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`Case 1:18-cv-00554-LY Document 1 Filed 07/02/18 Page 5 of 8
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`SECOND CLAIM FOR RELIEF
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`Infringement of U.S. Patent No. 6,895,519
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`16.
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`Aquila realleges and incorporates by reference the allegations of paragraphs 1-15,
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`inclusive, as if set forth in full herein.
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`17.
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`AMD has infringed, and continues to infringe, at least claim 1 of the ’519 Patent.
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`AMD makes, uses, offers to sell, or sells, within the United States or imports into the United
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`States, products with cores using the Bulldozer, Excavator, Piledriver, Steamroller, or Zen
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`microarchitectures, including but not limited to the AMD A-Series Processors integrating
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`Excavator CPU cores, A-Series PRO Processors integrating Excavator CPU cores, FX-Series
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`Processors integrating Piledriver and Bulldozer CPU cores, (“’519 Representative Accused
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`Products”) that meet each and every limitation of claims 1 and 2.
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`18.
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`The ’519 Representative Accused Products have a plurality of ordinary operation
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`modes, Core-P states, and a plurality of special modes, Core-C states. The Core-P states “are
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`operational performance states characterized by a unique combination of core frequency …
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`software requests core-P state changes for each core independently,” and the Core-C state
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`transitions requests are evaluated and chosen by frequency and voltage domain dependencies,
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`with action fields defined in D18F4x11[C:8]. The memory accessed by the SMU/SMC that
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`executes firmware that manages transitions between the P-states is a first memory that stores a
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`clock control library for controlling a clock frequency transition between said ordinary operation
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`modes. The System Management Unit (“SMU”) and/or System Management Controller
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`(“SMC”) is a system control circuit. The The registers accessed by the power management
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`features for P-states, and the addresses specified by MSRC001-0073[CstateAddr] C-state base
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`address, or D18F4x128[HaltCstateIndex] C-state Policy Control 1 are a register. The SMC
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`carries out the requests that cause transitions between the P-states and C-states, and also carries
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`out the clock frequency transition among CPU core-P states and transitions between core-P
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`states, in response to said clock control library. The Digital Frequency Synthesizer that receives
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`Case 1:18-cv-00554-LY Document 1 Filed 07/02/18 Page 6 of 8
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`reference clocks from the PLL, and creates a clock for the CPU (CCLK) is a clock generation
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`circuit that receives a plurality of standard clocks, wherein said clock generation circuit generates
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`a clock supplied to said central processing unit according to control by said system control
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`circuit. The on-chip L1/L2 cache hierarchy is a second memory that stores an application
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`program, the software that dynamically controls the Core-P states, ACPI drivers, power
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`management utilities, or other software that causes the SMU/SMC firmware to perform P-state
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`transitions, enabling user selectable clock frequency transition. In Core C1 state, the clock
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`frequency of the core ramps down and the clocks may be turned off, and in Package C1
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`(“PC1”) state, the core may also be halted, and in the Package C6 (PC6”) state, VDD can be
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`reduced to a non-operational voltage, halting the supply of power to the core.
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`19.
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`Other AMD products similarly infringe one or more claims of the ’519 Patent.
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`Aquila accuses of infringement all AMD products that contain features and functions similar to
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`those described above that practice one or more claims of the ’519 Patent.
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`20.
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`AMD has induced and continues to induce infringement of one or more claims of
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`the ’519 Patent, including, but not limited to, Claim 1, pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 271(b), by
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`encouraging its customers and other third parties to use AMD’s products having the infringing
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`features such as Core-P and Core-C states. This use of AMD’s infringing products, constitutes
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`infringement of one or more claims of the ’519 Patent by such customers or third parties. AMD’s
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`acts of inducement include: providing its customers with the ’519 Patent Infringing Products and
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`intending its customers to use the ’519 Infringing Products with hardware, software, and other
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`infrastructure that enable and/or make use of these products; advertising these products through
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`its own and third-party websites; encouraging customers and other third parties to communicate
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`directly with AMD representatives about these products; and providing instructions on how to
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`use these products.
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`21.
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`AMD has had notice of the ’519 Patent and of the infringement of the ’519 Patent
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`for more than one year. Before initiating litigation, Aquila made substantial efforts to license the
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`’519 Patent to AMD. AMD has refused to pay a reasonable royalty to license the ’519 Patent
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`Case 1:18-cv-00554-LY Document 1 Filed 07/02/18 Page 7 of 8
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`and continues to infringe one or more claims of the ’519 Patent despite being aware of its
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`infringement of the ’519 Patent on the basis of claim charts provided by Aquila and subsequent
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`discussions between the parties. AMD’s infringement of the ’519 Patent has therefore been, and
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`continues to be knowing, willful, and deliberate and has caused and continues to cause
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`substantial damage to Aquila.
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`DEMAND FOR JURY TRIAL
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`22.
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`Pursuant to Rule 38 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Aquila
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`demands a trial by jury on all issues so triable.
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`PRAYER
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`WHEREFORE, Aquila prays that judgment be entered in its favor and against AMD as
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`follows:
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`a.
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`For damages in an amount according to proof, but no less than a reasonable
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`royalty for infringement of the patents in suit;
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`b.
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`c.
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`d.
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`e.
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`For enhanced damages pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 284;
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`For prejudgment and post-judgment interest as provided by law;
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`For costs of suit and reasonable attorneys’ fees incurred herein; and
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`For such other relief as the Court deems proper.
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`Dated: July 2, 2018
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` Respectfully submitted,
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`/s/ Henry B. Gonzalez III______
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` Henry B. Gonzalez III
`State Bar No. 00794952
`Jeffrie B. Lewis
`State Bar No. 24071785
`GONZALEZ, CHISCANO, ANGULO, &
`KASSON, PC
`9601 McAllister Freeway, Suite 401
`San Antonio, Texas 78216
`Tel: (210) 569-8500
`hbg@gcaklaw.com
`jlewis@gcaklaw.com
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