MONSEY, N.Y., May 12, 1998 - General Patent Corporation (GPC) has filed patent infringement lawsuit against Smart Modular Technologies, Inc., Fremont, CA, to enforce four of GPC's patents which cover specific aspects of PCMCIA devices, PC card modems and other computer communications devices.
The patents include U.S. Patent Nos. 4,543,450 ("Integrated Connector and Modem"), U.S. Patent Nos. 4,603,320 ("Connector Interface"), 4,686,506 ("Multiple Connector Interface") and 4,972,470 ("Programmable Connector").
Alexander Poltorak, chairman and CEO of GPC, said, "Regrettably, we are forced to resort to litigation as the last measure, when companies choose to ignore our repeated warnings of patent infringement. It is our hope that the pending litigation can be settled soon and that additional litigation can be avoided through negotiation," he added.
GPC has already licensed several companies: IBM, Boca Research, MaxTech Corp., Archtek America Corp. and Zoom Telephonics Inc. There are pending suits against 3Com Corp., Hayes Corp., Xircom Inc., New Media and Play Inc.