Major suppliers file joint patent infringement lawsuit against Senju Group

The three major suppliers jointly filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Senju Metal Industry Co., Ltd., Senju Metal Europe GmbH and Senju Manufacturing Europe S.R.O. in the district court Frankfurt. In their complaint the companies allege that the Senju Group infringes a patent held by MacDermid Alpha, Henkel and Heraeus related to a solder alloy formulation marketed under the brand names Innolot (MacDermid Alpha and Heraeus) and Loctite 90ISC (Henkel). The companies consider that the Senju Group infringes the patent EP 1 617 968 B1 by advertising and selling the solder alloy M794 to customers in Germany. The formulation in question was developed in a cooperative project to produce a lead-free solder alloy specifically for harsh environment electronics applications. The resulting products provide an improved reliability performance, compared to standard SAC alloys. The materials are designed to tolerate the demands of high-temperature applications while still being solderable at standard lead-free process temperatures, making them well suited for automotive applications.