NEW YORK - July 2, 2014 - Vringo,
Inc. (NASDAQ: VRNG), a company engaged in the innovation,
development and monetization of intellectual property and mobile
technologies, today announced that on July 2, 2014, the United
States Patent and Trademark Office mailed a notice that it will
issue a certificate confirming that all of the claims of U.S.
Patent No. 6,314,420 remain valid and unchanged. This is the
second time the USPTO has confirmed the validity of the '420
Patent.
The USPTO has also previously
confirmed the validity of U.S. Patent No. 6,775,664, the other
patent asserted in litigation with Google. At this time,
there are no other pending reexaminations for the patents asserted
in the litigation.
Background
on United States Patent and Trademark Office
Proceedings
On March 15, 2012, Google
submitted a request to the USPTO for ex parte reexamination of
certain claims of U.S. Patent No. 6,314,420. On July
18, 2012, the USPTO issued a determination ordering a
reexamination. On September 25, 2012, the USPTO issued a
first, non-final office action where it adopted the rejections
proposed by Google. I/P Engine's response was filed on November 26,
2012. A final, appealable office action maintaining the rejections
was mailed on May 3, 2013. An interview was held with the
Examiner and on July 3, 2013 I/P Engine filed a response. On
September 13, 2013, the USPTO issued a certificate confirming that
all of the claims in the '420 patent challenged by Google remain
valid and unchanged. On September 20, 2013, the USPTO ordered
a second reexamination of certain claims of the '420 patent based
on a reference not relied upon by Google in the first
reexamination. Today, the USPTO upheld the validity of the
'420 patent in the second reexamination.
On November 20, 2012, Google
submitted a request to the USPTO for ex parte reexamination of
certain claims of U.S. Patent No. 6,775,664 based on four prior art
references. On January 17, 2013, the USPTO ordered reexamination
based on only one of the four references submitted by Google. On
February 8, 2013, Google filed a second request for reexamination
based on the three references not adopted by the USPTO in the first
proceeding. On March 7, 2013, the USPTO ordered a second
reexamination proceeding. On May 10, 2013, the USPTO issued a
first, non-final office action in the first reexamination. On June
13, 2013, the USPTO decided to merge the two reexamination
proceedings. On June 25, 2013, the May 10 office action was
rescinded and a new non-final office action was issued, rejecting
the challenged claims based on two of the four references
originally cited by Google. I/P Engine's response was timely filed
on August 26, 2013. An interview was subsequently held with the
Examiner on September 16, 2013. On November 5, 2013, the USPTO
mailed a notice that it will issue a certificate confirming that
all of the claims in the '664 patent challenged by Google remain
valid and unchanged.
Documents regarding USPTO
proceedings are publicly available on the Patent Application
Information Retrieval website,
http://portal.uspto.gov/pair/PublicPair, which is operated by the
USPTO.
Background
on Litigation
On November 6, 2012, a jury in
U.S. District Court in Norfolk, Virginia ruled in favor of I/P
Engine and against the defendants AOL Inc., Google, Inc., IAC
Search & Media, Inc., Target Corp., and Gannett Co., Inc. with
respect to defendants' infringement of the asserted claims of U.S.
Patent Nos. 6,314,420 and 6,775,664. After upholding the
validity of the patents-in-suit, and determining that the asserted
claims of the patents were infringed by the defendants, the jury
found that reasonable royalty damages should be based on a "running
royalty," and that the running royalty rate should be 3.5%.
The jury also awarded I/P Engine a total of approximately $30.5
million. On November 20, 2012, the clerk entered the District
Court's final judgment. On January 3, 2014, the District
Court ordered that I/P Engine recover an additional sum of $17.32
million from Defendants for supplemental damages and prejudgment
interest.
On January 21, 2014, the District
Court ruled that Defendants' alleged design-around is "nothing more
than a colorable variation of the system adjudged to infringe," and
accordingly I/P Engine "is entitled to ongoing royalties as long as
Defendants continue to use the modified system."
On January 28, 2014, the District
Court ruled that the appropriate ongoing royalty rate for
Defendants' continued infringement of the patents-in-suit that
"would reasonably compensate [I/P Engine] for giving up [its] right
to exclude yet allow an ongoing willful infringer to make a
reasonable profit" is a rate of 6.5% of the 20.9% royalty base
previously set by the District Court.
I/P Engine and Defendants have
appealed the case to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
The District Court proceedings are pending in the Eastern
District of Virginia, Norfolk Division. The Appellate
proceedings are pending in the United States Court of Appeals for
the Federal Circuit. The court dockets for the foregoing
cases are publicly available on the Public Access to Court
Electronic Records website, www.pacer.gov, which is operated by the
Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.
About
Vringo, Inc.
Vringo, Inc. is engaged in the
innovation, development and monetization of intellectual property
and mobile technologies. Vringo's intellectual property
portfolio consists of over 500 patents and patent applications
covering telecom infrastructure, internet search, and mobile
technologies. The patents and patent applications have been
developed internally, and acquired from third parties. For
more information, visit: www.vringoIP.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes
forward-looking statements, which may be identified by words such
as "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "estimates," "projects,"
"intends," "should," "seeks," "future," "continue," or the negative
of such terms, or other comparable terminology. Forward-looking
statements are statements that are not historical facts. Such
forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties,
which could cause actual results to differ materially from the
forward-looking statements contained herein. Factors that
could cause actual results to differ materially include, but are
not limited to: our inability to license and monetize our patents,
including the outcome of the litigation against online search firms
and other companies; our inability to monetize and recoup our
investment with respect to patent assets that we acquire; our
inability to develop and introduce new products and/or develop new
intellectual property; new legislation, regulations or court
rulings related to enforcing patents, that could harm our business
and operating results; unexpected trends in the mobile phone and
telecom infrastructure industries; our inability to raise
additional capital to fund our combined operations and business
plan; our inability to maintain the listing of our securities on a
major securities exchange; the potential lack of market acceptance
of our products; potential competition from other providers and
products; our inability to retain key members of our management
team; the future success of Infomedia and our ability to receive
value from its stock; and other risks and uncertainties and other
factors discussed from time to time in our filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including our annual
report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on March 10, 2014.
Vringo expressly disclaims any obligation to publicly update any
forward-looking statements contained herein, whether as a result of
new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by
law.
Contacts:
Investors and Media:
Cliff Weinstein
Executive Vice President
Vringo, Inc.
646-532-6777
cweinstein@vringoinc.com
This
announcement is distributed by NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions on
behalf of NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions clients.
The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely
responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the
information contained therein.
Source: Vringo, Inc. via Globenewswire
HUG#1811712
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