Veeco Instruments Inc., today announced that it has settled the patent litigation which it had brought against Asylum Research Corporation in 2003.
Under the terms of the settlement, Veeco and Asylum agreed to drop all pending claims against each other and agreed to a five year, worldwide cross license of each company's patents and a mutual covenant not to sue on patents either party has a right to assert. Asylum will make a net payment to Veeco plus an ongoing royalty to Veeco for the five-year term of the cross license. As part of the settlement, Asylum acknowledged the validity of the Veeco patents asserted in the case. Other terms of the license were not disclosed.
John R. Peeler, Chief Executive Officer of Veeco, commented "We are pleased to have reached this favorable settlement with Asylum that values our technology and validates our patents. Veeco has invested tens of millions of dollars in intellectual property and research and development for AFM technology, and this investment has helped us to bring the best AFM products to the marketplace. This settlement is a significant milestone for our employees, customers and shareholders, and we will continue to protect our valuable intellectual property, as necessary, in the future."
Mark Munch, Ph.D., Veeco's Executive Vice President, Metrology & Instrumentation, commented "We are gratified by this outcome, which speaks to the strength of Veeco's position in the AFM market. Innovation and leadership in AFM technology is a cornerstone of Veeco, and we will continue to invest heavily in R&D to deliver exciting new high performance products that enable the success of our customers."
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