Applied Materials Inc. (Nasdaq: AMAT) ridicules the claims made by Israeli engineer Zvi Lahat in his patent infringement lawsuit against the company. In the statement of response filed with the Tel Aviv District Court, Applied Materials says that the information provided by Lahat was neither invented nor new, but only principles that were not protected by patents or commercial trademarks. Furthermore, at the time that the information was presented, it was known to Applied Materials and other companies.
Applied Materials says that Lahat's lawsuit is an attempt to get rich at its expense, on the assumption that the company would prefer to pay him off, just to avoid the burden of legal proceedings.
Lahat alleges that Applied Materials stole his technology inventions, which resulted in multifold growth of the company. Applied Materials has a market cap of $20 billion. Lahat claims that some of the company's core businesses are actually based on his concept, which he showed the company 14 years ago.
Applied Materials says that Lahat never acted to protect the intellectual property which he claims was stolen from him, either at the meeting where he presented the information to the company, or at any other opportunity. "Lahat's attempt to attribute to himself the invention of using electrochemical processes for copper coating of silicon processors, when this development began in the industry and at Applied Materials years before Lahat approached the company, borders on the ridiculous," says the company in the statement of defense.
Lahat alleges that Applied Materials approached him through his company, Tamhil Tech, and asked him to demonstrate his capabilities. He hired Nicholay Kovarsky, another scientist in the applied materials coating field. Lahat alleges that, he subsequently discovered that Kovarsky was working for Applied Materials, where he developed Lahat's invention.
Applied Materials says that Lahat approached the company to demonstrate his ideas, but that the company's representatives immediately concluded that they did not amount to much.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 4, 2011
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