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General Patent Corporation International Represented Acticon in These Transactions
SUFFERN, N.Y., June 17, 2002 - Acticon Technologies
LLC (Acticon) has recently settled its patent infringement
lawsuits with Silicom, Inc. of Mahwah, N.J. (Silicom)
and Shining Technology, Inc. of Cypress, Calif. (Shining),
and entered into license agreements with three other
companies. Both the infringement and the licenses pertained
to Acticon's portfolio of four "smart connector"
patents. General Patent Corporation International (GPCI),
a patent licensing and enforcement firm headquartered
in Suffern, N.Y., represented Acticon in these transactions.
Acticon filed suit against Silicom for patent infringement
in March of 2002 in the U.S. District Court for the
District of New Jersey. The complaint alleged that the
PC Card modems, network adapters and combo cards made
by Silicom infringed the Acticon patents. The parties
reached an amicable resolution of this dispute, which
resulted in Acticon withdrawing its action against Silicom.
Silicom and Acticon had been engaged in licensing discussions
prior to initiation of the lawsuit. Acticon sued Shining,
together with certain of its manufacturers and distributors,
in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District
of California in January of 2002. In response to the
suit, Shining took a license under the patents.
"Now that we have negotiated 46 licensing agreements
and successfully settled 12 lawsuits on behalf of Acticon,
most infringing companies quickly agree to take a license
under the patents," said Alexander Poltorak, GPCI's
Chairman and CEO. "Unfortunately," he added,
"for some companies it takes a lawsuit to get their
attention."
Other companies that have recently licensed the Acticon
patents include Woodhead Canada Limited, a subsidiary
of Woodhead Industries, Inc. of Chicago, Ill., an international
manufacturer of electronic and industrial communication
products; Edimax Technologies Co., Ltd. of Taiwan, an
international company engaged in the design and manufacture
of networking products, and its subsidiary Edimax Computer
Co. of Santa Clara, Calif.; and Accton Technology Corporation
of Taiwan, an international vendor of communication
products.
"We feel that all the recent licensees and successful
law suits are testimony to the industry's high regard
for Acticon's award-winning 'smart connector' technology,
which has become a de facto standard in computer communications,"
said Dr. Steven Farago, Acticon's chief technologist.
Acticon's "smart connector" patents cover
specific aspects of PC cards and other "smart connector"
devices used in mobile computer communication, networking
and instrumentation control. More than 90% of the PC
cards sold in the United States today are licensed under
the Acticon patents.
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