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News Release from: ROMER CimCore
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 15 December 2006
Immediate response to initial office
action
Romer plans immediate response to initial office action from patent office in second reexamination proceeding
A jury in a federal court in San Diego, California recently found unanimously in favour of Romer CimCore et al that the US Patent No 5,829,148 ("the '148 patent") is valid (CimCore Corp et al vs Faro Technologies, Civil Action No 03-CV-2355 B(WMc))
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 6 May 2003 at 8.00am (UK)
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The related patent infringement suit is scheduled for re-trial on April 3, 2007, following the first trial where the jury was just one vote shy of a unanimous decision finding that Faro was infringing the '148 patent.
In connection with the patent infringement suit, Faro also filed for a re-examination of the '148 patent.
Such re-examination is running parallel to the litigation, and Romer has now received an initial Office Action from the U.S.
Patent and Trademark Office preliminarily rejecting certain Claims of the '148 patent.
Romer now has its first opportunity to respond to the Patent Office and intends to respond immediately by providing the Patent Office with considerable evidence demonstrating the validity of the '148 patent.
Romer is confident that after being presented with all of the evidence, the Patent Office will reach the same conclusion that the jury in the federal court in San Diego did.
The first re-examination of the '148 patent, also conducted by the Patent Office at the request of Faro, resulted in the Patent Office confirming the validity of all of the patent's claims and issuing a Reexamination Certificate for the '148 patent earlier this year.
"We know that in reexamination proceedings it is common for the first Office Action to preliminarily reject previously issued claims," said Bill Gruber, President and CEO of Hexagon Metrology North America.
"We welcome the opportunity to respond to the initial Office Action, and are confident that the Patent Office will agree with us and the San Diego jury that our patent is valid".
"We fully expect to receive a second Reexamination Certificate for the '148 patent in 2007".
Romer and its subsidiary CimCore Corp.
designs and manufactures portable coordinate measurement machines.
The company is a wholly-owned subsidiary within the Measurement Technologies group of Sweden's Hexagon AB (Stockholmsborsen: HEXA B), the world's largest provider of precision dimensional measurement hardware and software.
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