ZTE FOUND IN BREACH OF CONTRACT
(Thomson Reuters ONE) -
United States District Court Finds That ZTE Breached Non-Disclosure Agreement
Entered Into With Vringo
Vringo Provides Additional Updates Regarding Litigation in France, Brazil, and
China
NEW YORK - April 8, 2015 - Vringo, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRNG), a company engaged in the
innovation, development and monetization of intellectual property, today
announced that the United States District Court for the Southern District of New
York has ruled that ZTE violated the non-disclosure agreement ("NDA") with
Vringo that formed the original basis for Vringo's claim against ZTE in the
United States.
In an order released April 6, 2015, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan granted Vringo's
motion for judgment on the pleadings with respect to the question of whether or
not ZTE breached the NDA entered into by the parties.
On April 7, 2015, the Court held a Status Conference. Following the Status
Conference, the Court granted Vringo's requests to consolidate the NDA case and
the FRAND case for the purposes of pretrial discovery, to extend the deadline
for fact discovery, to set a deadline for the filing of dispositive motions, and
to seal the unredacted version of Vringo's Motion to Compel.
In France, trial on ZTE's alleged infringement of two of Vringo's European
patents is scheduled to take place on April 13, 2015. One of the patents in suit
has already been found infringed by ZTE at trial in Germany, where an injunction
against ZTE remains in place, and, on a preliminary basis, in the Netherlands.
In Brazil, Court-appointed experts are finalizing reports, which Vringo believes
will demonstrate ZTE's flagrant disregard for the Court's order enjoining ZTE
from manufacturing, using, offering for sale, selling, installing, testing, or
importing any 3G, 4G, and LTE infrastructure equipment in Brazil. Vringo
expects these reports will be submitted to the Court imminently.
In China, re-examinations against Vringo's Chinese patents, filed by ZTE,
continue to be heard before the Patent Re-Examination Board of the State
Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China on a rolling
basis. ZTE has sought to invalidate 33 of Vringo's Chinese patents. Despite
ZTE's irregular activity, described below, to date 14 patents have been
maintained valid, 9 have been found invalid, and are pending appeal, and 2 have
been found valid-in-part. In a number of cases, ZTE has withdrawn its re-
examination requests just before the Patent Re-Examination Board was to maintain
the validity of the patents in those cases, later re-filing the requests. These
second requests could result in the appointment of a new review panel, which
would consider anew ZTE's previously unsuccessful arguments. To date, Vringo has
not filed any actions for patent infringement against ZTE in China.
Background
On July 2, 2014, Vringo filed a lawsuit against ZTE in the United States
District Court for the Southern District of New York, seeking a temporary
restraining order and preliminary and permanent injunctions against ZTE,
enjoining ZTE's use of prohibited materials captured under an NDA entered into
with Vringo, including but not limited to ZTE's use of such materials in its
anti-monopoly lawsuit in China against Vringo. On July 7, 2014, the Court
granted a temporary restraining order against ZTE's use of such material. On
July 23, 2014, ZTE filed a counterclaim against Vringo. On July 24, 2014, the
Court held a hearing on Vringo's motion for a preliminary injunction against
ZTE, which remains pending. The temporary restraining order remains in place
pending the Court's determination of the motion for preliminary injunction. On
October 2, 2014, Vringo filed a motion for judgment on the pleadings, similar to
a motion for summary judgment, asking the court to render a judgment on Vringo's
breach of contract claim based solely on the pleadings of the parties.
On February 10, 2015, the United States District Court for the District of
Delaware ordered a case improperly brought by ZTE against Vringo, alleging
breach of contract, transferred to the United States District Court for the
Southern District of New York, to be consolidated, for at least the purposes of
discovery, with the existing litigation in the latter court. On February
27, 2015, Vringo filed an Amended Answer and Counterclaim to ZTE's complaint.
Among other claims made against ZTE, Vringo seeks a final determination on a
global FRAND license for ZTE's use of Vringo's standard-essential patents.
On April 6, 2015, the Court granted Vringo's motion for judgment on the
pleadings in part, finding that ZTE breached the NDA between the parties. The
Court dismissed Vringo's unfair competition claim against ZTE, but denied ZTE's
motion to dismiss Vringo's claims against ZTE for fraudulent inducement and
breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing.
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 600 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. For more information, visit:www.vringo.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; our inability to protect our intellectual property
rights; 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 a major securities
exchange; 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; the future success of Infomedia and our ability
to receive value from its stock; our ability to continue as a going concern; our
liquidity 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 filed with the SEC on March 16, 2015.
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 GlobeNewswire on behalf of
GlobeNewswire 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 GlobeNewswire
[HUG#1909460]
Unternehmensinformation / Kurzprofil:
Datum: 08.04.2015 - 14:30 Uhr
Sprache: Deutsch
News-ID 384302
Anzahl Zeichen: 9337
contact information:
Town:
New York
Kategorie:
Business News
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