VRINGO ANNOUNCES THAT THE USPTO CONFIRMS VALIDITY OF THE '664 PATENT ASSERTED IN LITIGATION WITH AOL, GOOGLE ET AL.
(Thomson Reuters ONE) -
NEW YORK - November 6, 2013 - Vringo, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRNG), a company engaged in
the innovation, development and monetization of intellectual property and mobile
technologies, today announced that on November 5, 2013, the United States Patent
and Trademark Office mailed a notice that it will issue a certificate confirming
that all of the claims of U.S. Patent No. 6,775,664 challenged by Google remain
valid and unchanged.
Background on U.S. District Court and Court of Appeals Proceedings
On November 6, 2012, a jury in U.S. District Court in Norfolk, Virginia ruled in
favor of I/P Engine, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Vringo, and against
defendants AOL, Inc., Google, Inc., IAC Search & Media, Inc., Gannett Company,
Inc., and Target Corporation (collectively, "Defendants") with respect to
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 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. On November 20, 2012, the clerk entered the
District Court's final judgment.
I/P Engine and the defendants have appealed the case to the Court of Appeals for
the Federal Circuit.
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 amounts for each of the foregoing
shall be determined by the District Court.
On August 16, 2013, the District Court found that I/P Engine is entitled to an
award of post-judgment royalty, and that additional discovery and briefing is
necessary to determine the precise amount of the royalty.
Google has asserted that, as of May 2013, it implemented a "design around" to
its system such that it no longer infringes the asserted patents. To resolve
the ongoing royalty rate and whether Google's alleged design around is more than
colorably different than the previously adjudicated infringing system, the
district court set a discovery and briefing schedule.
* I/P Engine served its expert reports on September 25, 2013.
* Defendants served their expert reports on October 15, 2013.
* The parties then submitted briefs to the district court on October
30, 2013.
* The parties' responsive briefs are due on November 10, 2013.
The District Court has also ordered the parties to attempt to set their own
royalty rate before the District Court imposes one. To that end, the District
Court ordered that within five days of completing the aforementioned discovery
and briefing schedule, the parties shall meet to negotiate an appropriate
ongoing royalty rate, using 20.9% of U.S. AdWords revenues as the appropriate
royalty base.
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 13-1313. The court dockets for the
foregoing cases are publicly available on the Public Access to Court Electronic
Records website, www.pacer.gov, which is operated by the Administrative Office
of the U.S. Courts.
Background on United States Patent and Trademark Office Proceedings
On March 15, 2012, Google submitted a request to the USPTO for ex parte
reexamination of certain claims of U.S. Patent No. 6,314,420. On July
18, 2012, the USPTO issued a determination ordering a reexamination. On
September 25, 2012, the USPTO issued a first, non-final office action where it
adopted the rejections proposed by Google. I/P Engine's response was filed on
November 26, 2012. A final, appealable office action maintaining the rejections
was mailed on May 3, 2013. An interview was held with the Examiner and on July
3, 2013 I/P Engine filed a response. On September 13, 2013, the USPTO issued a
certificate confirming that all of the claims in the '420 patent challenged by
Google remain valid and unchanged. On September 20, 2013, the USPTO ordered a
second reexamination of certain claims of the '420 patent based on a reference
not relied upon by Google in the first reexamination. To date, the USPTO has
not determined whether to reject the claims of the '420 patent.
On November 20, 2012, Google submitted a request to the USPTO for ex parte
reexamination of certain claims of U.S. Patent No. 6,775,664 based on four prior
art references. On January 17, 2013, the USPTO ordered reexamination based on
only one of the four references submitted by Google. On February 8, 2013, Google
filed a second request for reexamination based on the three references not
adopted by the USPTO in the first proceeding. On March 7, 2013, the USPTO
ordered a second reexamination proceeding. On May 10, 2013, the USPTO issued a
first, non-final office action in the first reexamination. On June 13, 2013, the
USPTO decided to merge the two reexamination proceedings. On June 25, 2013, the
May 10 office action was rescinded and a new non-final office action was issued,
rejecting the challenged claims based on two of the four references originally
cited by Google. I/P Engine's response was timely filed on August 26, 2013. An
interview was subsequently held with the Examiner on September 16, 2013. On
November 5, 2013, the USPTO mailed a notice that it will issue a certificate
confirming that all of the claims in the '664 patent challenged by Google remain
valid and unchanged.
Documents regarding USPTO proceedings are publicly available on the Patent
Application Information Retrieval website,
http://portal.uspto.gov/pair/PublicPair, which is operated by the USPTO.
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#1740862]
Unternehmensinformation / Kurzprofil:
Datum: 06.11.2013 - 14:00 Uhr
Sprache: Deutsch
News-ID 313432
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