Palo Alto, CA - On June 8, 2009, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas granted summary judgment of non-infringement and entered final judgment in favor of Novatek Microelectronics Corporation, Ltd. in its long-running dispute with Honeywell International Inc. over Honeywell's U.S. Patent No. 5,041,823 pertaining to flicker-free liquid crystal displays.
In the lawsuit, filed by Honeywell in March 2007 against Novatek and 10 other defendants, Honeywell alleged that Novatek willfully infringed the '823 patent through the sale of its source driver chips to LCD panel manufacturers located overseas. Following a favorable claim construction ruling by the court in January, Novatek filed a motion for summary judgment of non-infringement demonstrating that it did not directly or indirectly infringe the '823 patent. In rendering final judgment in Novatek's favor, the court held that Novatek did not infringe on at least two separate grounds and ordered that Honeywell's claims be dismissed.
Novatek was the only remaining defendant in the case. All of the other defendants had previously settled with Honeywell.
Separately, the United States Patent and Trademark Office recently rejected all of the asserted claims of Honeywell's '823 patent in reexamination proceedings initiated by Novatek. Honeywell will now have to overcome both the District Court judgment and the ruling of the USPTO in order to continue to assert the '823 patent.
This was the first major U.S. patent suit faced by Novatek, a Taiwanese manufacturer of LCD display products. Although Honeywell had collected substantial licensing fees from other U.S. and foreign companies for its LCD patents, including the '823 patent, Novatek contended that the patent was both not infringed and was otherwise invalid and decided to fight the lawsuit rather than enter into a license agreement with Honeywell.
"We are extremely gratified by the court's ruling. This has been a long, hard fight against Honeywell but we were confident from the beginning that we did not infringe," said KC Wang, Novatek's Senior Manager of IPR.
Novatek's lead counsel, Ted Herhold of Townsend and Townsend and Crew, said: "Judge Davis's ruling shows that foreign manufacturers need not be afraid to fight what they consider to be meritless lawsuits in U.S. courts, even when pursued by well-established companies such as Honeywell."
The case is Honeywell International Inc. et al. v. Acer America Corp. et al., Case No. 6:07-CV-125, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.
Novatek, headquartered in Hsinchu, Taiwan, is a leading manufacturer of display driver ICs and other electronic products. For further information, go to www.novatek.com.tw/.
Townsend teams with businesses, inventors, entrepreneurs, scientists and investors to protect innovative products and ideas. The firm offers a full range of intellectual property services, including patent, copyright and trademark litigation, prosecution and licensing, with additional expertise in antitrust. With headquarters in San Francisco and additional offices in Palo Alto, Walnut Creek, San Diego, Seattle, Washington, D.C., and Tokyo, Townsend has more than 200 attorneys, many with advanced technical degrees and extensive scientific and business experience.
For additional information, please contact Ted Herhold at Townsend and
Townsend and Crew LLP, 650.326.2400, ttherhold@townsend.com.