May 22, 2008
Cognex Wins Patent Lawsuit
By Eileen Kennedy
Cognex Corp. of Natick said it has won a patent lawsuit against four competitors in federal court.
This week a U.S. District Court judge in Minnesota ruled that a patent, which the four competitors claimed covered a technology similar to Cognex's, was invalid and unenforceable because of the conduct of the companies during the time they were procuring the patent.
Cognex designs and makes machine vision sensors and systems that are used to automate manufacturing and assure the quality of the objects that are made.
Cognex filed the lawsuit after it learned that one of the competitors, Acacia Research Corp. of California, was demanding licensing fees in connection with the now invalid patent.
It was allegedly a case of the companies acting as patent trolls, according to Cognex, which includes purchasing highly questionable patents that are then used to drum up licensing fees.
The four companies involved were California-based Acacia Research and Veritec Inc., VCode Holdings LLC and VData LLC, which are all in Minnesota. VCode is a subsidiary of Veritec and VData is a subsidiary of Acacia.
This week a U.S. District Court judge in Minnesota ruled that a patent, which the four competitors claimed covered a technology similar to Cognex's, was invalid and unenforceable because of the conduct of the companies during the time they were procuring the patent.
Cognex designs and makes machine vision sensors and systems that are used to automate manufacturing and assure the quality of the objects that are made.
Cognex filed the lawsuit after it learned that one of the competitors, Acacia Research Corp. of California, was demanding licensing fees in connection with the now invalid patent.
It was allegedly a case of the companies acting as patent trolls, according to Cognex, which includes purchasing highly questionable patents that are then used to drum up licensing fees.
The four companies involved were California-based Acacia Research and Veritec Inc., VCode Holdings LLC and VData LLC, which are all in Minnesota. VCode is a subsidiary of Veritec and VData is a subsidiary of Acacia.
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