GSI Lumonics Backed on Suit; RVSI to Appeal

KANATA, Ontario, Canada, Apr. 4 -- GSI Lumonics Inc. has won a favorable decision in a patent infringement lawsuit brought against the company by Robotic Vision Systems Inc. (RVSI), which had sought more than $65 million in damages plus interest. The US District Court for the Central District of California ruled in favor of GSI Lumonics' subsidiaries, General Scanning Inc. and View Engineering Inc., finding that RVSI's patent was invalid.
The court decision does not change the fact that GSI Lumonics has withdrawn from the semiconductor inspection market for a period of ten years as a result of the settlement of an earlier fraud suit brought by RVSI, said Pat V. Costa, chairman and CEO of RVSI. We will have a definitive assessment of this new decision when we have had time to thoroughly review it. An earlier decision in this case by the same judge was reversed by an appellate court. This decision will be appealed and, in the end, we fully expect to recover the damages we are owed, said Costa.
In the first lawsuit, RVSI asserted eight patents against GSI Lumonics' subsidiary, View Engineering; View Engineering prevailed on all eight patents. In the second lawsuit, RVSI prevailed on one patent, but was not awarded damages, as GSI Lumonics no longer produces the product line at issue in that case.