ADE Prevails in Patent Infringement Lawsuit.Business Editors/High-Tech Writers WESTWOOD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 5, 2004 ADE Corporation (NASDAQ NASDAQ in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on : ADEX ADEX Athens Derivatives Exchange (Athens, Greece) ADEX Air Defense Exercise ADEX Advertisement Expenditure ADEX Asociaciã³n de Exportadores (Peru) ) announced today that a jury in the United States District Court United States District Court In the U.S., any of the 94 trial courts of general jurisdiction in the federal judicial system. Each state, as well as the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, has at least one federal district court. in Delaware has returned a verdict in favor of ADE on a patent infringement patent infringement n. the manufacture and/or use of an invention or improvement for which someone else owns a patent issued by the government, without obtaining permission of the owner of the patent by contract, license or waiver. claim asserted by KLA-Tencor Corporation (NASDAQ: KLAC) against ADE. In the lawsuit, originally filed on November 22, 2000, KLA-Tencor alleged that ADE Corporation had infringed on its patent rights, and sought damages for the alleged infringement and a permanent injunction permanent injunction n. a final order of a court that a person or entity refrain from certain activities permanently or take certain actions (usually to correct a nuisance) until completed. against future infringement. Ultimately, after a six-day trial, the jury found that all the asserted claims in the KLA-Tencor US Patent 6,215,551 were invalid. "In defending against KLA-Tencor's assertions, ADE relied upon key intellectual property that is embodied in our laser scanning Advanced Wafer Inspection System (AWIS AWIS Association for Women in Science AWIS Alexa Web Information Service AWIS Army WWMCCS Information System AWIS Advanced Wafer Inspection System (ADE Corporation) AWIS Association for the Wellbeing of Israel's Soldiers (TM)) equipment. We are pleased with the jury verdict," stated Dr. Chris L. Koliopoulos, ADE's president and chief executive officer. "Going forward, we will continue to develop the industry's most advanced wafer inspection systems and vigorously protect our intellectual property and technology assets." About ADE Corporation ADE Corporation is a leading supplier of metrology and inspection systems required for production in the silicon wafer, semiconductor device, magnetic data storage and optics manufacturing industries. The Company's systems analyze and report product quality at critical manufacturing process steps for yield enhancement, providing quality certification data that is relied upon by semiconductor wafer, device and computer disk manufacturers. The Company's systems also are used for production measurements in the semiconductor chip fabrication fabrication (fab´rikā´sh  n),n the construction or making of a restoration. process. To learn more about ADE, visit the Company's Web site at http://www.ade.com. This news release contains certain forward-looking statements that are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. Those statements that make reference to the Company's expectations, predictions, assumptions and anticipations should be considered forward-looking statements. These statements include, but are not limited to, those associated with the Company's patent infringement litigation An action brought in court to enforce a particular right. The act or process of bringing a lawsuit in and of itself; a judicial contest; any dispute. When a person begins a civil lawsuit, the person enters into a process called litigation. with KLA-Tencor, and the Company's product development and patent protection initiatives. These statements involve risks and uncertainties including those associated with the strength of the semiconductor and device markets, wafer pricing and wafer demand, the results of the Company's product development efforts, and the success of ADE's product offerings to meet customer needs within the timeframes required by customers in these markets. Further information on potential factors that could affect ADE Corporation's business is described in the Company's reports on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Form 10-K Form 10-K A report required by the SEC from exchange-listed companies that provides for annual disclosure of certain financial information. Form 10-K See 10-K. for the fiscal year ended April 30, 2003 and its subsequent 10-Q filings. |
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