IP infringement case judgement
Rudolph Technologies has announced a favorable verdict in its patent infringement suit against Israeli manufacturer, Camtek, Ltd., concerning Rudolph’s proprietary continuous scan wafer inspection technology. The jury determined in its verdict that all models of Camtek's Falcon inspection system literally infringe Rudolph's US patent no. 6,826,298 for an Automated Wafer Defect Inspection System And A Process Of Performing Such Inspection which covers continuous inspection of wafers using strobing illumination. This is the technology that is used in August and Rudolph inspection tools. In awarding approximately $6.8M to Rudolph, the jury also rejected entirely Camtek's arguments that Rudolph's '6,298 patent is invalid.
“We’ve believed all along that Camtek was using our proprietary technology, and are gratified that the jury agreed with us,” said Robert Koch, Rudolph’s Vice President and General Counsel. “As we have said before, our intellectual property is important to us and we do not take infringement of our rights lightly. We will now seek an injunction to prevent the sale in the U.S. of all models of the Falcon inspection systems."
In following up on this success, Rudolph will continue to pursue intellectual property protection for its proprietary continuous scan wafer inspection systems outside the U.S.
