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Merle Innovations Inc., a Delaware entity, has filed a single Western District of Washington against both Apple and Intel (2:25-cv-01824), alleging infringement of a single patent through the provision of a variety of switched-capacitor power amplifiers (SCPAs) and products (e.g., various iPhone models) that purportedly include them. Per the complaint, "Merle was founded in September 2017 by Dr. Jeffrey Walling and Dr. Sangmin Yoo, who are named inventors on the [asserted patent] and both earned their PhDs from the University of Washington", which is identified as an interested third party to the case.
Comprising a family of one, the asserted patent (8,547,177) issued in October 2013 with estimated priority in May 2010. As noted, it names Walling and Yoo as inventors, along with David Allstot, a professor at the University of Washington at the time of alleged invention. Walling is characterized as a postdoctoral research associate at that time; Yoo, as a doctoral student. The trio assigned it to the university during prosecution; the university transferred it to Merle Innovations on July 31, 2025.
On a public website, Merle Innovations tags itself as engaged in "Development of IP Related to Fully Digital RF Transceivers", indicating that it was:
. . . founded in 2018 and focuses on the founders [sic] transformational invention of the Switched-Capacitor Power Amplifier, a capacitive RF-DAC that enables direct, bits-to-RF and mmWave data transmission. Since 2018, the founders, have continued rapid development of the technology , [sic] including critical OOB noise reduction, optimization for performance in beamforming/phased arrays and operation up to mmWave.
On that website, Walling indicates that he is an associate professor at Virginia Tech, his social media bio suggesting that he has held that position since August 2021, after a stint with the University of Utah. The Merle Innovations website states that Yoo "was an Assistant Professor at Michigan State University until 2020. He co-founded Merle Innovations in 2018 and was with Merle through Dec. 2020. Most recently, he is a VP at Samsung". A social media profile for Yoo appears to have been deleted.
Merle Innovations pleads in its complaint that "[e]ven from publicly-available information alone, before any discovery has taken place, it is clear that Defendants' infringement has been willful, and based on actual copying of the '177 Patent inventions":
Intel has known of the '177 Patent's inventions since at least July 2010, when named inventor Dr. Sangmin Yoo (and later co-founder of Merle) explicitly disclosed the inventions to Intel, along with the fact that the inventions were claimed in a then-pending University of Washington patent application. Dr. Yoo was still a doctoral graduate student at UW at the time, and had recently begun work as an intern in collaboration with Intel engineers on a project relating to radio frequency power amplifiers. During his work on that project, Dr. Yoo disclosed his SCPA inventions to the Intel engineers he was working with, along with the fact that the inventions were in the process of being patented by UW. The Intel engineers in turn expressed interest in the inventions, including the possibility of Intel licensing the inventions from UW for use in future Intel products.
The plaintiff provides excerpts of purported email communications about the technology from around this time, further alleging awareness of the '177 patent through subsequent Intel publications, patent applications, and manufacturing activity for Apple. Merle Innovations then recounts Apple's acquisition of Intel's smartphone business through 2019, at which point, per the complaint, "Apple became the successor in interest to the Intel business unit that copied and willfully infringed the '177 Patent's inventions": "That is, as a result of the business acquisition, Apple legally stepped into the shoes of Intel as it pertains to the willful infringement committed by the acquired Intel business unit, such that Intel's knowledge of the '177 Patent and its willful infringement became attributable to Apple".
Merle Innovations further alleges that Apple had independent knowledge of the '177 patent beginning in December 2018 and that Intel's willful infringement persisted past the Apple acquisition of its smartphone business: "Intel has continued to make infringing wireless connectivity solutions for non-smartphone applications, including but not limited to Intel's Wi-Fi 6 and later Wi-Fi connectivity solutions". The plaintiff provides a long list of products accused of infringement in its complaint, of Intel products, Apple products, and products overlapping between the two.
The complaint represents that the University of Washington "and Merle are parties to a Patent Transfer Agreement effectuating" the transfer of the '177 patent to the latter. Merle Innovations pleads that local interest in the outcome of the case exists, in part, because of the university's stake in the case. The plaintiff does not further detail the nature of the university's interest.
Irell & Manella LLP (apparently as lead counsel) and Corr Cronin LLP (as apparent local counsel) represent Merle Innovations. The case has yet to be assigned to a judge. 9/19, Western District of Washington.
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