Asylum Research Corporation, an employee-owned, premier manufacturer of atomic force microscopes, announced today that the patent litigation between it and Veeco Instruments Inc. which started in September 2003 has been settled.
Under the terms of the settlement, Asylum and Veeco have agreed to drop all pending claims against each other and agreed to a five year, worldwide cross license of each other's patents and a mutual covenant not to sue on patents either party has a right to assert. Asylum will pay an initial license fee to Veeco plus an ongoing royalty 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 agreement were not disclosed.
Jason Cleveland, CEO of Asylum, said, "We are pleased that this litigation is in our past and that we can now move forward. Asylum spends a significant percentage of our revenues on research and development and that is reflected in our fast growing patent portfolio. The cross-licensing of portfolios will allow both us and Veeco to bring better products to market, which is good news for customers."
Roger Proksch, President of Asylum, added, "The nanotechnology market values innovation. Everyone in the field will welcome the end to this struggle because it allows us to return to doing what we do best - making great AFMs and supporting our loyal customers."
Asylum Research was represented in the litigation by John Thornburgh, Seth Sproul, John M. Farrell, John Gartman, Linda Gunderson and Justin Barnes of the international law firm of Fish & Richardson PC.