Vringo, Inc. VRNG today released a
statement regarding its forthcoming patent infringement trials in the United
Kingdom, which were the topic of an inaccurate press release issued by
defendant ZTE earlier today.
"Vringo takes litigation and the licensing of our intellectual property assets
very seriously. We were surprised that any company or party to litigation
would publicly make inaccurate statements. We believe it is important to
clarify and set the record straight for our investors, the legal community and
our partners around the world," said David Cohen, Vringo's Chief Legal and
Intellectual Property Officer.
In the United Kingdom, Vringo alleged infringement of six patents: EP919,
EP589, EP029, EP933, EP119, and EP212. Trial on EP919 remains scheduled to
commence in October 2014. Trial on EP029 had been scheduled for trial at the
same time but, by agreement of the parties and subsequently ordered by the
court, will be deferred until a later date. Trials with regard to EP933,
EP119, and EP212 are scheduled to commence in 2015. Earlier this year the
parties agreed to remove both the infringement and validity claims, then at
issue, regarding EP589.
"Streamlining issues for courts to consider is typical in litigation. Vringo
is looking forward to the trials against ZTE's UK subsidiary in October 2014
and in 2015, as well as hearings in Germany, France and India, which will
occur in the coming months," Mr. Cohen said.
"The strength of Vringo's intellectual property, and ZTE's infringement
thereof, is being validated in cases around the world," said Mr. Cohen. "The
Chinese Patent Office recently upheld the validity of the Chinese counterparts
to EP589 and EP029 after ZTE challenged the validity of each patent. In
Germany, the Mannheim Regional Court has already found that ZTE infringes
EP119, issued an injunction, and rejected ZTE's invalidity arguments. The
validity of EP119 was also upheld by the European Patent Office in an
invalidity challenge brought by Qualcomm prior to Vringo's acquisition of the
patent. Just this week, the Brazilian Patent Office rejected ZTE's claims
that the Brazilian counterpart to EP919 is invalid. In addition, after
evaluating the strength of Vringo's claims, courts in Brazil, India and
Romania have granted injunctions against ZTE, ordered ZTE to post securities,
and/or required ZTE to report imports of certain products to Vringo. ZTE's
statements that the strength of Vringo's patents has not been evaluated and
that Vringo's withdrawal of certain claims demonstrates some sort of tacit
admission of the weakness of Vringo's patents are belied by the facts," Mr.
Cohen continued.
ZTE's press release also exaggerates the "substantial" fees paid by Vringo.
The UK has a fee shifting system, in which the payment of costs for pre-trial
applications is a routine feature. The "substantial" fee that ZTE appears to
reference was less than £40,000.
Vringo has sought to engage ZTE in discussions for over two years following a
decade of attempts by the previous owner of the asserted patents. Vringo has
proposed to have the United Kingdom High Court, or independent arbitrators,
resolve the parties' disputes. When Vringo tried to engage ZTE in direct
discussions in December 2013 and provided settlement material under a
non-disclosure agreement (NDA), ZTE consciously chose to use Vringo's
materials in violation of the NDA. ZTE's breach of the NDA is currently the
subject of litigation in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of
New York, which has granted a temporary restraining order against ZTE.
Notwithstanding ZTE's actions to date, Vringo remains willing to license its
standard essential patents to ZTE on a fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory
basis.
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