California and German Courts Rule in Ongoing Litigation Between Iomega and Nomai and its Distributors.ROY, Utah--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 28, 1998--Iomega Corporation (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :IOM IOM See: Index and Option Market ) announced that on May 27, 1998 the United States District Court for the Northern District of California The United States District Court for the Northern District of California is the Federal district court whose jurisdiction comprises following counties: Alameda, Contra Costa, Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, Marin, Mendocino, Monterey, Napa, San Benito, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa and the District Court of Frankfurt, Germany each issued rulings in the ongoing 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. between Iomega, Nomai, S.A. and distributors of Nomai XHD XHD Extreme High Definition disks. The California Court denied Iomega's request for a preliminary injunction A temporary order made by a court at the request of one party that prevents the other party from pursuing a particular course of conduct until the conclusion of a trial on the merits. A preliminary injunction is regarded as extraordinary relief. based on alleged patent and copyright infringement Noun 1. copyright infringement - a violation of the rights secured by a copyright infringement of copyright plagiarisation, plagiarization, piracy, plagiarism - the act of plagiarizing; taking someone's words or ideas as if they were your own by Nomai. The German court upheld an ex parte [Latin, On one side only.] Done by, for, or on the application of one party alone. An ex parte judicial proceeding is conducted for the benefit of only one party. preliminary injunction previously granted against boeder, a Nomai distributor, and fined boeder for violating the injunction. The California Court ruled, in an order under seal, that at this preliminary stage Iomega did not meet the heavy burden which is required under United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. law to receive an injunction. This ruling does not change the status quo [Latin, The existing state of things at any given date.] Status quo ante bellum means the state of things before the war. The status quo to be preserved by a preliminary injunction is the last actual, peaceable, uncontested status which preceded the pending controversy. relative to Nomai's ability to sell XHD disks in the U.S. A trial on the merits on the merits adj. referring to a judgment, decision or ruling of a court based upon the facts presented in evidence and the law applied to that evidence. A judge decides a case "on the merits" when he/she bases the decision on the fundamental issues and considers of Iomega's U.S. claims is scheduled for Aprilof 1999. "The California Court's decision in no way lessens our commitment to vigorously enforce our intellectual property rights and to relentlessly attack unfair competition worldwide," said Laurie B. Keating, senior vice president and general counsel. "Although Nomai may continue to ship its XHD disks in the U.S. until an ultimate decision on the merits An ultimate determination rendered by a court in an action that concludes the status of legal rights contested in a controversy and precludes a later lawsuit on the same Cause of Action by the parties to the original lawsuit. of the trial is reached, Iomega believes - and independent testing has confirmed - that the XHD disks are incompatible with and may cause damage to Zip drives as well as customers' data. The truly unfortunate result of this decision is that unsuspecting customers may put their valuable information at unnecessary risk." Also on May 27, 1998, Iomega was served with two related decisions by the District Court of Frankfurt regarding proceedings between Iomega and boeder. The first decision rejected boeder's opposition to an ex parte preliminary injunction which prohibits boeder from using the phrase "Zip compatible" in packaging or advertising relating to relating to relate prep → concernant relating to relate prep → bezüglich +gen, mit Bezug auf +acc XHD disks. In the second related decision, the court fined boeder for having violated the earlier injunction. Nomai's distributor was also ordered to pay all court fees associated with these proceedings. "The message sent by the Frankfurt Court is that German consumer protection laws consumer protection laws n. almost all states and the federal government have enacted laws and set up agencies to protect the consumer (the retail purchasers of goods and services) from inferior, adulterated, hazardous and deceptively advertised products, and have teeth. The Court's decisions will help to protect German consumers against deceptive claims associated with XHD disks," said James Sierk, Iomega's president and chief executive officer. "Iomega's Zip drives and Zip disks are designed as a single integrated system and tested to meet the highest standards for reliability, compatibility and ease-of-use which our customers expect. We firmly believe consumers should avoid using unauthorized products that may compromise the quality and reliability of their Zip system." Iomega conducted its own internal testing, and commissioned independent experts to test both Genuine Zip(r) 100 disks and the Nomai XHD disks. The tests were designed to determine compatibility, reliability and durability or media life, all important customer satisfaction concerns. The tests conclusively showed that Iomega's 100 percent Genuine Zip disks were compatible with all Iomega Zip drives in every test, every time. Tests performed on Nomai's so-called "new" XHD disks furnished by Nomai's lawyers in November 1997 showed that the XHD disks do not work at all in the majority of notebook Zip drives, have mechanical incompatibility with many Zip drives, and due to an incompatibility with the Zip drive head-disk interface, may cause catastrophic head damage and a high risk of unrecoverable data loss. These tests, unlike earlier tests, were conducted at room temperature. Under both elevated and room temperature conditions, XHD disks did not meet well established compatibility and reliability standards. In addition to the California and Frankfurt actions, a trial between Iomega and Nomai is scheduled to begin in London in early June 1998, and a motion for a preliminary injunction is pending in Australia which is expected to be heard at the end of June. There is also a decision on the merits pending in France, following the Paris Court's evaluation of a Court appointed computer expert's report due to be completed in September 1998. Iomega Corporation manufactures personal read/write storage solutions that help people manage their stuff - anywhere. Iomega's products provide consumers with what they want, when they want it, at a reasonable price. The Company's industry standard storage solutions, designed for all types of computer users, include Zip drives and genuine Zip 100 disks; Jaz(r) one- and two-gigabyte drives and disks; and Ditto(tm) tape backup drives and tape cartridges. Whether used in homes, business, government or education, or by creative professionals, all Iomega storage solutions ensure high levels of quality and reliability when using authorized Iomega media products. Iomega products are available through computer retail stores, resellers, major distributors and OEMs. The Company can be reached at 1-800-MY-STUFF (800-697-8833), or on the web at http://www.iomega.com. Additional Iomega press releases can be accessed through the toll-free fax-back line: (888-88-IOMEGA). -0- Note to Editors: Iomega, Zip, Jaz, and the stylized styl·ize tr.v. styl·ized, styl·iz·ing, styl·iz·es 1. To restrict or make conform to a particular style. 2. To represent conventionally; conventionalize. "i" logo are registered trademarks of, and Clik!, Ditto, Zip Built-In and Buz are trademarks of, Iomega Corporation. All other products and brand names are the property of their respective owners. For maximum reliability, use only genuine Zip 100 disks featuring the genuine Zip 100 symbol in your Zip drive.
CONTACT: Iomega Corporation
Tyler Thatcher, 801/778-4362
thatcher@iomega.com
or
Danielle Killian, 801/778-4484
killian@iomega.com
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