Atmel Corp. v. Authentec, Inc.

ORDER DENYING DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO DISMISS

Defendant Authentec, Inc. moves pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(h)(3) to dismiss this action for lack of standing. Plaintiffs Atmel Corporation, Atmel Switzerland, Atmel France and At-mel SARL oppose the motion. The matter was submitted on the papers. Having considered all of the papers filed by the parties and the evidence cited therein, the Court denies Defendant’s motion.

BACKGROUND

On June 5, 1997, U.S. patent application no. 08/870,002 was filed. On September 11, 2001, U.S. Patent No. 6,289,114 (the '114 patent) was issued and assigned to Thomson-CSF. In late December, 1999, while the patent application was pending, Thomson-CSF assigned a majority of the shares in its subsidiary, Thomson-CSF Semicon-ducteurs Specifiques (TCS) to a third party. As part of the agreement, Thomson-CSF also assigned its interest in several patents, including the '114 patent along with the majority interest in TCS. The assignment was effective May 22, 2000. At some point after the assignment TCS became known as Atmel Grenoble.

Until its sale in May, 2006, Atmel Grenoble was a wholly owned subsidiary of Atmel Paris. Atmel Paris is a…