VRINGO ANNOUNCES RULING IN I/P ENGINE LITIGATION
(Thomson Reuters ONE) -
NEW YORK - August 16, 2013 - Vringo, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRNG), a company engaged in
the innovation, development and monetization of intellectual property and mobile
technologies, today announced the District Court has issued a ruling on its
wholly-owned subsidiary I/P Engine, Inc.'s Motion for an Award of Post-Judgment
Royalties in its litigation against AOL, Inc., Google, Inc., IAC Search & Media,
Inc., Gannett Company, Inc., and Target Corporation (collectively,
"Defendants").
The District Court's Memorandum Opinion and Order (the "Order") is available
online at http://bit.ly/1bDBHNk, and the following summary is qualified in its
entirety by the full text of the Order.
In the Order, the District Court found that I/P Engine is entitled to an award
of a post-judgment royalty, and that additional discovery and briefing is
necessary to determine the precise amount of the royalty.
The District Court noted that at trial, I/P Engine introduced expert testimony
that starting in the Fourth Quarter of 2007, the infringing components of
Google's SmartAds system added 20.9% to Google's U.S. AdWords revenue and
additional evidence is in the record to support this position. While Defendants
continue to contest the use of this royalty base, the Court noted that it will
not re-litigate this question, and held that it will apply the 20.9% royalty
base to determine the proper ongoing royalty.
The District Court ordered Defendants to pay the ongoing royalty to I/P Engine
on a quarterly basis by wire transfer or other certified means of receipt, and
certify by penalty of perjury the U.S. revenue attributable to Defendants' use
of AdWords in U.S. Dollars and the calculation of the royalty payment.
To resolve the ongoing royalty rate and duration for which the royalty rate
shall be received, the Court set forth the following discovery and briefing
schedule:
* August 25, 2013 - The parties must produce any documents relevant for
determining whether "New AdWords" is no more than a colorable variation of
the adjudicated product.
* September 25, 2013 - Expert witness reports due.
* October 15, 2013 - Expert rebuttal reports due.
* October 30, 2013 - The parties shall serve and file briefs and any
supporting evidence.
* November 10, 2013 - The parties may file responsive briefs.
* Evidentiary Hearing - The Court, if necessary, may schedule an evidentiary
hearing in which the parties may present appropriate evidence and offer
arguments in support.
The District Court also held that the parties should be given the opportunity to
set their own royalty rate before the Court imposes one. To that end, the
District Court ordered that within five days of completing the aforementioned
discovery and briefing schedule, the parties meet and negotiate an appropriate
ongoing royalty rate, using 20.9% of U.S. AdWords revenues as the appropriate
royalty base. If the parties are unable to come to an agreement, the District
Court further ordered that the parties schedule a settlement conference with the
United States Magistrate Judge assigned to the case no later than December
1, 2013.
Background
On November 6, 2012, a jury in U.S. District Court in Norfolk, Virginia ruled in
favor of I/P Engine and against the defendants with respect to the defendants'
infringement of the asserted claims of U.S. Patent Nos. 6,314,420 and
6,775,664. After upholding the validity of the patents-in-suit, and determining
that the asserted claims of the patents were infringed by the defendants, the
jury found that reasonable royalty damages should be based on a "running
royalty," and that the running royalty rate should be 3.5%. The jury also
awarded I/P Engine a total of approximately $30.5 million, excluding interest.
On November 20, 2012, the clerk entered the District Court's final judgment.
On August 1, 2013, the District Court found that I/P Engine is entitled to
supplemental damages from October 1, 2012 to November 20, 2012; prejudgment
interest from September 15, 2011 to November 20, 2012; and post-judgment
interest for Defendants' infringement. The District Court held that it will
determine the amounts for each of the foregoing.
I/P Engine and Defendants have appealed the case to the Court of Appeals for the
Federal Circuit. Defendants filed their opening brief on July 22, 2013. I/P
Engine's brief is due on September 3, 2013.
Google has submitted requests to the United States Patent and Trademark Office
(the "USPTO") for ex parte reexamination of certain claims of the two asserted
patents. On July 24, 2013, the USPTO issued a notice that it will issue a
certificate confirming that all of the claims in the '420 patent challenged by
Google remain valid and unchanged. The '664 patent remains subject to
reexamination.
The court dockets for the cases are publicly available on the Public Access to
Court Electronic Records website, http://www.pacer.gov, which is operated by the
Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. The U.S. District Court proceedings
are pending in the Eastern District of Virginia, Norfolk Division. The case
number is 2:11cv512RAJ. Appellate proceedings are pending in the United States
Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The docket numbers are 13-1307 and
13-1311. Documents regarding the USPTO proceedings are publicly available on
the Patent Application Information Retrieval website,
http://portal.uspto.gov/pair/PublicPair.
About Vringo, Inc.
Vringo, Inc. is engaged in the innovation, development and monetization of
intellectual property and mobile technologies. Vringo's intellectual property
portfolio consists of over 500 patents and patent applications covering telecom
infrastructure, internet search, and mobile technologies. The patents and
patent applications have been developed internally, and acquired from third
parties. Vringo operates a global platform for the distribution of mobile
social applications and services. For more information, visit:
www.vringoIP.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes forward-looking statements, which may be identified
by words such as "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "estimates," "projects,"
"intends," "should," "seeks," "future," "continue," or the negative of such
terms, or other comparable terminology. Forward-looking statements are
statements that are not historical facts. Such forward-looking statements are
subject to risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ
materially from the forward-looking statements contained herein. Factors that
could cause actual results to differ materially include, but are not limited to:
our inability to license and monetize our patents, including the outcome of the
litigation against online search firms and other companies; our inability to
monetize and recoup our investment with respect to patent assets that we
acquire; our inability to develop and introduce new products and/or develop new
intellectual property; new legislation, regulations or court rulings related to
enforcing patents, that could harm our business and operating results;
unexpected trends in the mobile phone and telecom infrastructure industries; our
inability to raise additional capital to fund our combined operations and
business plan; our inability to maintain the listing of our securities on
NASDAQ; the potential lack of market acceptance of our products; potential
competition from other providers and products; our inability to retain key
members of our management team; and other risks and uncertainties and other
factors discussed from time to time in our filings with the Securities and
Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including our annual report on Form 10-K for the
year ended December 31, 2012 filed with the SEC on March 21, 2013. Vringo
expressly disclaims any obligation to publicly update any forward-looking
statements contained herein, whether as a result of new information, future
events or otherwise, except as required by law.
Contacts:
Investors and Media:
Cliff Weinstein
Executive Vice President
Vringo, Inc.
646-532-6777
cweinstein(at)vringoinc.com
This announcement is distributed by Thomson Reuters on behalf of
Thomson Reuters clients. The owner of this announcement warrants that:
(i) the releases contained herein are protected by copyright and
other applicable laws; and
(ii) they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and
originality of the information contained therein.
Source: Vringo, Inc. via Thomson Reuters ONE
[HUG#1723557]
Unternehmensinformation / Kurzprofil:
Datum: 16.08.2013 - 18:31 Uhr
Sprache: Deutsch
News-ID 288574
Anzahl Zeichen: 10005
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Kategorie:
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