News Article
U.S. patent & trademark office rejects claims in Synopsys patent
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office rejected all the claims in Synopsys Inc.'s patent number 6,378,114 (the '114 patent), calling into question the validity of the patent, Magma Design Automation Inc. said in a statement.
The validity of the '114 patent has been in dispute during the companies' patent litigation currently before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
"This determination by the U.S. PTO is entirely consistent with the position we have maintained throughout the case, which is that Synopsys' '114 patent is invalid," said David Stanley, Magma corporate vice president, Corporate Affairs. "We are pleased with the U.S. PTO's action."
The U.S. PTO's action does not invalidate the patent but is an intermediate step in the re-examination process that may ultimately result in the patent being deemed invalid.
