VRINGO ANNOUNCES THAT USPTO CONFIRMS VALIDITY OF THE '420 PATENT ASSERTED IN LITIGATION WITH AOL, GOOGLE ET AL.
NEW YORK - July 24, 2013 - Vringo, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRNG), a company engaged in the innovation, development and monetization of intellectual property and mobile technologies, today announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued a Notice of Intent to Issue Ex Parte Reexamination Certificate for U.S. Patent No. 6,314,420 ("the '420 Patent").
On May 24, 2012, Google submitted a request to the USPTO for ex parte reexamination of claims 10, 14, 15, 25, 27 and 28 of the '420 Patent.
Today, the USPTO released a Notice of Intent to Issue Ex Parte Reexamination Certificate stating that it will issue a certificate confirming the validity of all claims in the '420 patent challenged by Google in this reexamination.
Background
On November 6, 2012, a jury in U.S. District Court in Norfolk, Virginia ruled in favor of I/P Engine and against defendants AOL, Inc., Google, Inc., IAC Search & Media, Inc., Gannett Company, Inc., and Target Corporation (collectively, "Defendants") 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 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.
The U.S. District Court proceedings are pending in the Eastern District of Virginia, Norfolk Division. The case number is 2:11cv512RAJ. Appellate proceedings are pending in the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The docket numbers are 13-1307 and 13-1313. 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.
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. The control number for the reexamination that is the subject of this press release is 90/009,991.
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. Vringo operates a global platform for the distribution of mobile social applications and services. 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; the inability to realize the potential value created by the merger with Innovate/Protect for our stockholders; 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 NASDAQ; 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; 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 for the year ended December 31, 2012 filed with the SEC on March 21, 2013. 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
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Source: Vringo, Inc. via Thomson Reuters ONE
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