SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Rudolph Technologies Inc. claims that it has gained a favorable verdict in its patent infringement suit against an Israeli manufacturer, Camtek Ltd., over scan wafer inspection technology. In the case, a jury awarded approximately $6.8 million to Rudolph.
In 2005, August Technology filed a patent infringement suit against Camtek over metrology technology. The suit, filed in U.S. federal court in Minneapolis, alleged that Camtek's line of inspection equipment sold under the "Falcon" trademark infringes on August Technology's U.S. patent no. 6,826,298.
At that time, semiconductor inspection and metrology powerhouse Rudolph (Flanders, N.J.) signed an agreement to acquire inspection company August.
This week, the jury determined in its verdict that all models of Camtek's Falcon inspection system ''literally infringe Rudolph's U.S. patent no. 6,826,298 for an automated wafer defect inspection system and a process of performing such inspection which covers continuous inspection of wafers using strobing illumination,'' according to Rudolph.
''We've believed all along that Camtek was using our proprietary technology, and are gratified that the jury agreed with us,'' said Robert Koch, Rudolph's vice president and general counsel, in a statement. ''As we have said before, our intellectual property is important to us and we do not take infringement of our rights lightly. We will now seek an injunction to prevent the sale in the U.S. of all models of the Falcon inspection systems."
Hit hard by the downturn, Camtek (Migdal Ha'Emek, Israel) last month implemented an additional reduction of its global work force by 68 employees. This reduction represents about 14 percent of the company's current total workforce of 480.
This represents the second layoff for the supplier of automatic optical inspection systems in recent times. In November, Camtek announced that it had implemented a cost reduction plan, which involves reducing its global work force by about 55 employees. This reduction represents about 12 percent of the company's total workforce.
Rudolph recently said fourth quarter revenue totaled $16.4 million, a 58 percent decrease compared to $39.0 million for the third quarter of 2008. Net loss for the fourth quarter of 2008 was $245.6 million or $7.96 per share, compared to a net loss of $448,000 or $0.01 per share in the third quarter.
The fourth quarter loss included previously announced goodwill and intangible impairment charges, and inventory and asset write-offs totaling $237.8 million, as well as other non-GAAP charges as detailed in the attached financial table.
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