Phanteks responds to Lian Li’s lawsuit

Phanteks issues a response to patent infringement allegations

Phanteks, the PC case and cooling manufacturer, has released a statement to the media confirming that Lian Li has filed a lawsuit against them.

In their statement, Phanteks has stated that their new D30 fans are an “original product”, and that they had consulted with patent lawyers during the development of these fans and found that they did not infringe on anyone else’s patents. Phanteks has their own patents related to their D30 fans in multiple other countries.

Recently, OC3D has managed to get a look at Phanteks’ new D30 series fans when we reviewed the company’s updated Glacier One 360D30 CPU liquid cooler.

Below is Phanteks’ full statement regarding Lian Li’s lawsuit.

We at Phanteks can confirm the filing of the patent infringement suit filed by a fellow PC enthusiast brand. We want to inform the community that our legal team is and has always properly handled any legal issue or communication that has arose.

From the start of the Phanteks D30 fan development, we set out to design an original product that innovates to provide new solutions to PC enthusiasts. We have consulted with patent lawyers during the development and prior to the announcement of the D30 fans and the fans were not found to infringe on the claims in the patent. Phanteks D30 fans are an original idea and have been issued patents in multiple countries to date.

We value and respect valid and enforceable IP rights and are confident that the result of this legal matter will confirm there is no infringement. We will continue our mission to serve the PC community by creating unique and innovative solutions.

Currently, Phanteks appear to be confident that their legal battle with Lian Li will confirm that their product dues not infringe on Lian Li’s patents, though the existence of this lawsuit confirms that Lian Li’s legal team believe that the opposite is true.

US 10,690,336 B1 is the patent behind Lian Li’s lawsuit. Lian Li received this patent in June 2020. This patent covers their daisy-chain mechanism for RGB illuminated PC fans. Lian Li uses this tech in their Uni series of fans. With their lawsuit Lian Li has claimed that Phanteks’ D30 series fans infringe on this patent.

What if Lian Li wins?

Should Lian Li win this lawsuit, Lian Li will be able to prevent Phanteks from selling their D30 fans. Alternatively, they coould force them to license the technology within their patent. This could lead to Lian Li seeking licensing revenue from other fan manufacturers that plan to utilise daisy-chain features. Winning this legal battle could generate a significant income for Lian Li.

This lawsuit is fresh, so expect it to take some time for this case to be resolved. With this lawsuit, Lian Li seeks to protect their patented technologies and Phanteks seeks to defend the originality of their own fan designs, though it remains to be seen how this lawsuit will be resolved.

You can join the discussion on Phanteks’ response to Lian Li’s patent infringement lawsuit against them on the OC3D Forums.