August 23, 2011 — The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which hears all patent appeals from U.S. federal courts nationwide, issued an opinion yesterday vacating the adverse judgment against Camtek in a patent infringement case brought against it by August Technology Corp. (now Rudolph Technologies, Inc.) in the Federal District Court for the District of Minnesota, reports Camtek Ltd. (Nasdaq, TASE: CAMT).
Six years ago, August sued Camtek for infringement of its patent no. 6,826,298 on high-speed semiconductor wafer inspection technology, originally filed in April 2000. August claimed the Camtek Falcon wafer inspection systems used its technology. The District Court, following a jury decision, had entered a judgment of infringement, a permanent injunction against Camtek and an award of $8.7 million in damages plus interest. The Federal Circuit found that the District Court erred in the construction of a key claim term and vacated the finding of infringement, the damages award and the permanent injunction. The Court of Appeals remanded the case to the District Court for a limited trial based on the corrected claim construction, which significantly narrows the scope of August’s patent.
Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP argued the successful appeal on behalf of Camtek.
Camtek Ltd provides automated test tools for semiconductor, printed circuit board (PCB) and IC substrate manufacturing. Learn more at www.camtek.co.il.
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