The Lemelson Medical, Education and Research Foundation LP filed a motion in December in US District Court in Massachusetts to dismiss the suit brought against it by the Cognex Corp. of Natick, Mass. Cognex seeks to overturn Lemelson's patents in bar-code reading and machine vision technology.
Lemelson attorney Louis Hoffman called the suit a public relations ploy, asking, "Is Cognex taking responsibility for every infringement that is made by every customer in order to have the standing to sue?"
Cognex legal director Michael Steir responded that the company does have indemnities. And he said it was more concerned with adverse publicity from the suit and its effect on the machine vision market.
Lemelson also moved to transfer the case to US District Court in Arizona, where it has filed suit against several semiconductor manufacturers alleging patent infringement.