Jury Awards AMS Sensors $86M In EDTX Trade Secrets Trial
Ryan Davis, 16 April 2021
An Eastern District of Texas jury determined Friday that Renesas should pay damages of nearly $85.9 million in a trade secrets and contract suit brought by rival light sensor maker AMS Sensors, although a Renesas attorney insisted the award will ultimately be much lower.
The jury reached its verdict after deliberating for about seven hours over two days following a damages retrial that began April 5 in Sherman, Texas, before U.S. District Judge Amos L. Mazzant III.
A jury in a previous trial found in 2015 that Renesas Electronics America Inc. misappropriated AMS Sensors USA Inc. trade secrets and breached a confidentiality agreement after the two companies, which have both made light sensors for Apple’s iPhone, met to discuss a merger but never reached a deal. The Federal Circuit vacated the damages award in that case in 2018, leading to a retrial solely on damages.
