Korea Supreme Court Affirms Patent Court Decision Invalidating Some Claims of Two FormFactor Korea Patents.Decision Does Not Address and Thus Leaves in Place Korean Intellectual Property Office Validation See validate. validation - The stage in the software life-cycle at the end of the development process where software is evaluated to ensure that it complies with the requirements. of Certain FormFactor Claims Asserted Against Phicom Corporation; Supreme Court Has Yet to Rule on Appeals Relating to relating to relate prep → concernant relating to relate prep → bezüglich +gen, mit Bezug auf +acc Two Other FormFactor Korea Patents LIVERMORE, Calif. -- FormFactor, Inc. (Nasdaq:FORM) announced the Korea Supreme Court issued a ruling affirming a 2005 Korea Patent Court decision invalidating in·val·i·date tr.v. in·val·i·dat·ed, in·val·i·dat·ing, in·val·i·dates To make invalid; nullify. in·val certain claims of FormFactor's Korea Patent Nos. 278342 and 399210. The Korea Supreme Court ruling does not address 27 claims of Patent No. 278342 and 77 claims of Patent No. 399210 that were upheld by the Korean Intellectual Property Office and outside of the scope of the Patent Court decision. Following normal practice, the bases for the rulings were not given and written opinions explaining the rulings would typically be expected in one to three weeks. "We will continue to protect our intellectual property rights against unauthorized use and defend our rights in Korea," said Stuart Merkadeau, FormFactor's senior vice president, general counsel. "Once we receive the Supreme Court's written decision on our Korea Patent Nos. 278342 and 399210, we will evaluate the potential impact on our ongoing Korea infringement proceedings against Phicom Corporation. The Korean litigations are only one part of a comprehensive 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. strategy in multiple jurisdictions involving multiple patents." The Korea Supreme Court has yet to rule on two other appeals addressing FormFactor Korea patents. One of the patents, FormFactor's Korea Patent No. 252457, has been upheld by both the Korean Intellectual Property Office and the appellate Relating to appeals; reviews by superior courts of decisions of inferior courts or administrative agencies and other proceedings. Patent Court. "Semiconductor manufacturers rely on FormFactor's innovation and technology to deliver wafer (1) A small, thin continuous-loop magnetic tape cartridge that has been used from time to time for data storage and specialized applications. (2) The base unit of chip making. It is a slice taken from a salami-like silicon crystal ingot up to 12" (300mm) in diameter. test products that reduce their overall cost of test, increase yield, and meet their technical roadmaps," added Igor Khandros, chief executive officer of FormFactor. "We continue to work with customers in Korea and throughout the world to deliver mission critical products and believe the Korea Supreme Court ruling will have no current business impact." In addition to FormFactor's commitment to innovation and its intellectual property and proprietary technologies, the Company's advanced manufacturing, which leads the industry in its capability-level and capacity, makes FormFactor a key supplier to the semiconductor industry worldwide. About FormFactor Founded in 1993, FormFactor, Inc. (Nasdaq: FORM) is the leader in advanced wafer probe cards A probe card is an interface between an electronic test system and a semiconductor wafer. Its purpose is to provide an electrical path between the test system and the circuits on the wafer, thereby permitting the testing and validation of the circuits at the wafer level, usually , which are used by semiconductor manufacturers to electrically test ICs. The company's wafer sort, burn-in and device performance testing Performance Testing covers a broad range of engineering or functional evaluations where a material, product, or system is not specified by detailed material or component specifications: Rather, emphasis is on the final measurable performance characteristics. products move IC testing upstream from post-packaging to the wafer level, enabling semiconductor manufacturers to lower their overall production costs, improve yields, and bring next-generation devices to market. FormFactor is headquartered in Livermore, California Livermore is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. The population was 80,723 as of January 1, 2007.[2] Livermore is located in the San Francisco Bay Area. Livermore is a "major suburb" of the Bay Area. with operations in Europe, Asia and North America North America, third largest continent (1990 est. pop. 365,000,000), c.9,400,000 sq mi (24,346,000 sq km), the northern of the two continents of the Western Hemisphere. . For more information, visit the company's web site at www.formfactor.com. FormFactor is a registered trademark of FormFactor, Inc. All other product, trademark, company or service names mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners. Forward-Looking Statements forward-looking statement A projected financial statement based on management expectations. A forward-looking statement involves risks with regard to the accuracy of assumptions underlying the projections. Statements in this press release that are not strictly historical in nature are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including statements regarding demand for our products, and future business and growth. These forward-looking statements are based on current information and expectations that are inherently subject to change and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Actual events or results might differ materially from those in any forward-looking statement due to various factors, including, but not limited to, the company's ability to defend its intellectual property rights in Korea and elsewhere in the world, to develop customized products that meet its customers' ever-evolving test requirements and to continue to timely manufacture and deliver the next generation of testing technology to help enable semiconductor manufacturers to lower their test costs. Additional information concerning factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially and adversely from those in any forward-looking statement is contained in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the company's 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 period ended December 30, 2006 and subsequent Form 10-Q Form 10-Q See 10-Q. and 8-K filings. Copies of the company's SEC filings are available at http://investors.formfactor.com/edgar.cfm. The company assumes no obligation to update the information in this press release, to revise any forward-looking statements or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially and adversely from those anticipated in forward-looking statements. |
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