ams OSRAM and Munck Wilson Mandala secure $51.7 million agreed final judgment in trade secret case after 17-year legal lawsuit

Dallas, Texas/USA and Premstaetten, Austria (27 May 2025)— ams-OSRAM AG (SIX: AMS), a global leader in light and sensor technology, and Munck Wilson Mandala, a full-service law firm with expertise in intellectual property and technology litigation, today announced a significant victory in a complex trade secret and breach of contract lawsuit that has spanned nearly two decades.

The lawsuit, styled ams-OSRAM USA Inc. v. Renesas Electronics America, Inc., was on appeal before the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which issued a 3-0 decision in April 2025, affirming liability and damages in favor of ams OSRAM. The parties now have settled pursuant to an agreed final judgment of $51,770,243. The judgment marks the conclusion of a prolonged legal effort involving allegations of trade secret misappropriation, breach of contract, tortious interference with contract, and patent infringement.

“This decision affirms our long-standing commitment to protecting innovation and upholding the integrity of our intellectual property,” said Rainer Irle, chief financial officer at ams OSRAM. “I congratulate our legal team led by Franz Fazekas, Head of Legal Global, on the outcome and thank the team at Munck Wilson Mandala for their unwavering support over the past 17 years.”

“This is a victory nearly two decades in the making,” said Michael McCabe, lead counsel for the ams OSRAM team and co-chair of Munck Wilson Mandala’s litigation group. “This win is a testament to our deep bench of intellectual property expertise and strong collaboration between the teams at Munck Wilson Mandala and ams OSRAM.”

The litigation began in 2008, after merger discussions between Texas Advanced Optoelectronic Solutions, Inc. (TAOS) and Intersil Corporation concluded without agreement. During those discussions, TAOS shared proprietary technology with Intersil Corporation under a confidentiality agreement. TAOS was acquired by ams OSRAM in 2011, and Intersil by Renesas in 2017.

Although Intersil later certified destruction of the confidential materials, it subsequently released a competing product incorporating TAOS’s, now ams OSRAM’s, trade secrets, resulting in significant business losses including supply contracts.

“We knew this would be a fight — and we never backed down,” said William A. Munck, global managing partner of Munck Wilson Mandala. “The faces of the opposing parties may have changed over time, but the facts never did. This case was about protecting our client’s hard-earned innovations from a party that stole and profited from them. We held them accountable — and we delivered.”

The litigation team at Munck Wilson Mandala was led by McCabe, and included partners Mike Wilson, Chase Cobern, Jordan Strauss, and Robert McCutcheon.

The ams OSRAM legal team was led by Dr. Franz Fazekas, vice president and global head of legal and his team, and in particular Martin Pecher.

The case is
ams-OSRAM USA Inc. v. Renesas Electronics America, Inc., 133 F.4th 1337 (Fed. Cir. 2025)
(opinion) (oral argument).

 ​​​​​​​