Suffern, NY - September 3, 2003 - General Patent Corporation (GPC), a leading patent licensing and enforcement firm, has scored another major victory in its campaign to enforce a portfolio of four "smart connector" patents owned by its subsidiary, Acticon Technologies LLC (Acticon). GPC announced today that Acticon has recently brought to a successful conclusion its lawsuit against Adaptec Inc. (NASDAQ: ADPT) and Iomega Corporation (NYSE:IOM), its 20th successful litigation to enforce this patent portfolio. Acticon brought suit against Adaptec and Iomega in August of 2002, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Adaptec and Iomega ultimately agreed to take a license under the patents.
"We are extremely pleased with the outcome of the Adaptec litigation," said Paul Lerner, Sr. Vice President and General Counsel for GPC. "It was unfortunate that Adaptec chose litigation over a simple licensing transaction, but the litigation was swift and we can now focus our attention on our other licensing activities," he added.
In addition to Adaptec and Iomega, Unibrain SA of Athens, Greece (Reuters: UNBr.AT), a developer of FireWire (IEEE-1394) hardware and software solutions, has recently taken a license under the patents for its FireWire PC Card products; and Focus Enhancements, Inc. (NASDAQ: FCSE), a designer of video technology solutions, has entered into a settlement agreement with Acticon for past acts of infringement by its PC Card products.
Acticon's "smart connector" patents cover specific aspects of PC cards and other "smart connector" devices used in mobile computer communication, networking and instrumentation control. Well over 90% of the PC cards sold in the United States today are licensed under the Acticon patents. GPC has successfully represented Acticon in 78 licensing transactions and 20 litigations.