Elysium Partners with Chipworks, Inc. for Advanced Hardware Analysis

IP Litigation

Client Bulletin

January 11, 2012

We are excited to announce that Elysium has formed a partnership with Chipworks, a leader in reverse engineering and patent infringement analysis of semiconductors and electronic systems. We expect that Elysium's customers will benefit from Chipworks' expertise and facilities.

Over the past 14 years, Elysium Digital has worked hard to earn the trust of the world's most prominent intellectual property law firms, leading technology companies, and in-house legal departments through its expert consulting and testimony in computer-science-related intellectual-property litigation, computer forensics, and electronic discovery. Our consultants understand computer software, hardware, and the interaction between the two.

However, we have too often been limited in our ability to serve clients in the area of advanced computer hardware analysis. While our professionals' knowledge of circuits and components serves clients well, we have occasionally been stopped in certain analysis work by our lack of extensive lab facilities, such as X-ray machines, high-powered microscopes, or the ability to modify chips using ion beams or chemicals. Historically, this category of work included ROM extraction, measuring communications between components on a board, delayering chips, analyzing security features implemented in hardware, etc.

Last month, Elysium took a big step towards improving its client service in this area by partnering with Chipworks, Inc. Chipworks, a company based in Ottawa and founded in 1992, specializes in semiconductor and electronics reverse engineering with a focus on intellectual property analysis. Under the terms of the partnership, Elysium clients will benefit from analysis requiring its advanced lab facilities, semiconductor engineers, inventory of electronic components, or published electronics research. Chipworks' clients will benefit from Elysium for our recognized expertise in software patent and copyright litigation, our experienced testifying witnesses, and our skill in discovering and producing electronic evidence.

Elysium's President Christian Hicks wrote, “We believe that each company brings a unique element to this collaboration. Chipworks brings engineering know-how, world-class analysis facilities, a focus on patent licensing, and direct relationships with semiconductor and electronics companies. Elysium brings software analysis skills and tools, testifying expertise, a focus on litigators, and capability in related practices such as forensics. Perhaps most importantly, the companies share a common background in intellectual property and a client service ethic that should enable each firm to strengthen the other's relationships with its own customers.”

In Chipworks' press release announcing the relationship last month, their President Julia Elvidge said, “The landscape of high tech patent licensing is growing in complexity as a result of technology advancements, convergence, and greater competition. Often, when multiple systems elements are involved, clients come to us because we can select and combine the optimal investigation techniques, from chip analysis through board analysis and functional analysis to software reverse engineering. Our partnership with Elysium helps us meet this need by extending our ability to assist more clients requiring software related patent analysis and evidence of use documentation.”

Elysium won't stop here in seeking ways to improve our ability to help our law firm clients with their technology caseload. If you have ideas about ways to expand or improve Elysium's offerings, please contact us.