austriamicrosystems confirms validity of court decision in patent infringement lawsuit against Melexis

UNTERPREMSTAETTEN, AUSTRIA: austriamicrosystems has confirmed that the first-instance verdict in the patent infringement lawsuit against Melexis N.V./SA (Belgium) and its German subsidiary Melexis GmbH before the District Court (Landgericht) in Duesseldorf (Germany) regarding magnetic field encoder products and European Patent EP 0 916 074 B1 remains valid.

At the same time, austriamicrosystems expects to ultimately prevail against the first-instance decision by the Federal Patent Court (Bundespatentgericht) in Munich (Germany) which deems the European Patent EP 0 916 074 B1 covering magnetic field encoder products and exclusively held by austriamicrosystems to be not patentable.

austriamicrosystems will appeal the court’s decision at the Federal Supreme Court (Bundesgerichtshof) in Karlsruhe (Germany) after the first-instance court’s decision has been issued in writing. austriamicrosystems is confident to prevail in this next and final instance and to have the patent fully validated by the court.

austriamicrosystems emphasizes that this recent development has no impact on its current and future business. As the first-instance decision by the Federal Patent Court remains legally non-binding until the appeal has been decided, Melexis will, however, continue to carry the risk of financial damages for patent infringement being awarded to austriamicrosystems after positive decision of the appeal.