FormFactor Appeals Korean Patent Court Ruling and Amends Infringement Claims
November 15, 2005
November 15, 2005
LIVERMORE, Calif. – November 15, 2005 – FormFactor, Inc. (Nasdaq: FORM) today announced its formal appeal to the Korean Supreme Court of the October 27th ruling of the Korean Patent Court. The ruling invalidated certain claims of two of four Korean patents asserted by FormFactor against Phicom Corporation.
FormFactor also expanded its Seoul district court complaint on the two patents addressed by the Patent Court decision by filing a paper to add additional infringement claims. The additional claims are directed to FormFactor’s proprietary wafer probe card structure. The October 27th Patent Court ruling impacted some but not all of the claims of two of FormFactor’s Korean patents asserted against Phicom, and the newly added claims were not included within the ruling. The Patent Court ruling on the remaining two patents is expected within a few months.
“We have strong grounds for our appeal based on the Patent Court ruling,” said Stuart Merkadeau, FormFactor’s senior vice president and general counsel. “In our opinion, the correct standards of patent validity were not applied in the Patent Court ruling. We believe we will prevail at the Supreme Court. We have multiple avenues in which to protect our global IP portfolio in Korea and in the US courts and will continue to aggressively defend our position. We remain confident in our market leading technology position and in our ability to successfully defend it through IP enforcement.”
FormFactor is a mission critical supplier to the semiconductor industry. Therefore, FormFactor remains committed to protecting its investment in R&D and innovation. FormFactor continues to focus on supplying top semiconductor manufacturers and delivering wafer test products that reduce its customers’ overall cost of test.