A jury in the US Federal District Court of Minnesota in Minneapolis has ordered Camtek Ltd. (Nasdaq: CAMT; TASE:CAMT) to pay Rudolph Technologies Inc. $6.8 million in damages in the patent infringement case filed by Rudolph. The court has not yet issued a judgment.
Rudolph sued Camtek over sales of the company's Falcon automated wafer inspection and metrology systems in the US. The case only covers the US patent, and therefore has no effect outside the US.
Camtek said in response that it intends to aggressively pursue post-trial motions to overturn or modify the jury's verdict and to oppose or limit the effect of any future injunctive relief. Should Camtek be unsuccessful at the trial court level, it plans to appeal any adverse judgment.
Camtek CEO Rafi Amit said, "Although we are disappointed by the jury's verdict in this case, we continue to believe that our Falcon products do not infringe on Rudolph's patent and that the patent itself is invalid. We expect to continue to aggressively defend Camtek's rights and believe that we will be successful in overcoming this unjust verdict.
Camtek's share fell 10.3% by mid-afternoon on the TASE today to NIS 1.30, after falling 12.6% on Nasdaq on Friday to $0.28, giving a market cap of $8.2 million.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 8, 2009
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