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NATICK, MA, USA 五月 22, 2008

Cognex Wins Patent Case Against Acacia Research Corporation and Veritec, Inc.

Court Rules Patent Invalid and Unenforceable

NATICK, MA, May 22, 2008--Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ: CGNX) today announced that  the U.S. District Court in Minnesota has ruled in favor of Cognex in its patent lawsuit against Acacia Research Corporation, Veritec, Inc., VCode Holdings LLC (a subsidiary of Veritec, Inc.), and VData LLC (a subsidiary of Acacia). 

The ruling by Judge Joan N. Ericksen, issued on May 19th, held that U.S. Patent No. 5,612,524, which claimed to cover a system for capturing and reading 2D symbology codes, is both invalid and unenforceable due to inequitable conduct by the defendants during the procurement of the patent.  The court also denied Acacia’s summary judgment motion seeking to dismiss a business defamation claim brought by Cognex against Acacia for representations Acacia made about Cognex after the lawsuit was filed.

Cognex, a leading manufacturer of devices used to capture, verify, read and decode 2D symbology codes, filed its original declaratory judgment complaint on March 13, 2006 after receiving information that Acacia Research Corporation had contacted Cognex customers to demand licensing fees relating to the ‘524 patent. 

“We are very pleased with the court’s decision, not only because it means that our customers will be spared from deceptive licensing demands, but also because it shows that the courts can and do act decisively to stop organizations that enrich themselves by asserting questionable patents,” said Dr. Robert J. Shillman, Chairman and CEO of Cognex. 

Dr. Shillman continued, “Companies and individuals certainly have the right to seek licensing fees for their legitimate, patented inventions.  In fact, patents provide an important incentive to the process of innovation by granting inventors the exclusive right to profit from their inventions for a certain period of time.  However, abusive patent trolling…the activity of purchasing highly questionable patents from patent holders and then asserting them against well-respected and ethical corporations in the hope of extracting large monetary settlements (which are often calculated to be a bit less than the cost of litigation)…has unfortunately become a growth “business” in America over the past decade.  But, unlike other growth businesses that help our economy, patent trolling hinders our ability to innovate and costs our economy hundreds of millions of dollars each year, costs that are passed on directly to consumers.” 

Dr. Shillman concluded, “Patent trolls are like neighborhood bullies; they can only be stopped by standing up to them, refusing to settle, and then challenging their patents in court as Cognex did in 2004 when it succeeded in invalidating 14 patents asserted by the Lemelson Partnership, and as it did it once again in this case against Acacia and Veritec.”

CONTACT:
Robin Pratt
Sr. Manager, Corporate Communications
Cognex Corporation
phone:  (508) 650-3384
email: robin.pratt@cognex.com

关于康耐视公司

康耐视公司(“公司”或“康耐视”)发明和商业化各种解决一些最关键的制造和配送挑战的技术。我们是全球领先的机器视觉产品和解决方案提供商,为有高增长潜力业务的,有吸引力的工业终端市场提升效率和提高质量。我们的解决方案将物理产品和软件相结合,以捕获和分析视觉信息,为全球客户自动化制造和配送任务。机器视觉产品用于通过定位、识别、检查和测量来自动化制造或配送和跟踪离散物品,如手机、电动汽车电池和电子商务包裹。机器视觉对于人类视觉不足以满足尺寸、精度或速度要求的应用,或者对于在大量节省成本或保持质量改进的情况是至关重要的。

作为全球领先的机器视觉公司,康耐视自从 1981 年成立以来,已经销售了 400 多万套基于图像的产品,累计利润超过 100 亿美元。康耐视总部设在美国马萨诸塞州纳提克郡,在美洲、欧洲和亚洲设有办公室和经销处。更多详情,敬请登录康耐视公司网站  www.cognex.com

接触:
Nathan McCurren
Head of Investor Relations
Cognex Corporation
ir@cognex.com

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