MONSEY, N.Y., August 26, 1997 - General Patent Corporation (GPC) has reached an out-of-court settlement with IBM Corporation in a patent infringement suit brought by GPC against IBM in March 1997 to enforce four of GPC's patents which cover specific aspects of PCMCIA devices, PC card modems and other computer communications devices. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
"We are delighted to have reached this agreement with IBM," said Alexander Poltorak, Ph.D., GPC's chairman and CEO. "We are looking forward to reaching similar agreements with the other industry players."
Dr. Poltorak also said that additional litigation was pending in New York against U.S. Robotics, now part of 3Com, and in California against seven defendants, including some of the largest modem makers. "We are very pleased that the IBM situation was resolved quickly and amicably, and we hope that other companies will follow suit," said David Fink, lead counsel for GPC in the IBM case.
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").