Court Recommends Permanent Injunction Against Lycom and Advance Creative Computer Corp.
SUFFERN, NY, October 16, 2007 - General Patent Corporation (GPC), a leading patent licensing and enforcement firm, has achieved another victory in its campaign to enforce a portfolio of "smart connector" patents owned by its subsidiary, Acticon Technologies LLC (Acticon).
GPC announced today that Acticon has settled its patent infringement lawsuit against Heisei Electronics Co., Ltd. of Taiwan and Heisei USA, LLC of Azusa, CA (Heisei). Acticon brought suit against Heisei and two other defendants in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (Case No. 06 Civ 4316). Heisei ultimately agreed to settle the lawsuit and to take a license under the patents.
The other defendants - Lycom Technology, Inc. and Advance Creative Computer Corp., both of Taiwan - failed to answer the Complaint, and a default judgment was entered against them. After an inquest on damages, the Magistrate Judge recommended compensatory damages, treble damages due to willfulness, pre-judgment interest, attorneys' fees and costs, and a permanent injunction barring these defendants from selling the infringing products in the U.S.
"We are pleased that Heisei has taken a license," said Paul Lerner, Sr. Vice President and General Counsel for GPC. "Unfortunately, the other defendants chose to ignore not only our entreaties to take a license, but the Court's order to appear and defend themselves. While we realize that a permanent injunction is a very serious matter, we felt that all other possible remedies had been exhausted."
Acticon's "smart connector" patents cover specific aspects of PC cards and other "smart connector" devices used in mobile computer communications, networking, and instrumentation control. GPC has successfully represented Acticon in 26 lawsuits and one hundred forty-five licensing transactions related to these patents.