Cognex Corporation (CGNX) announced that it has reached a settlement with Fuji Machine Manufacturing Co., Ltd. and its U.S. subsidiary Fuji America Corporation, relating to the import and sale of equipment using machine vision software.
Other terms of the resolution were not disclosed. Cognex’s dispute with other machine vision companies continues in the United States International Trade Commission and in the District Court of Massachusetts.
In May 2009, Cognex had filed a complaint with the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) against MvTec Software GmbH, MvTec LLC, Fuji America, and several other respondents alleging unfair methods of competition and unfair acts in the unlawful import into the United States, sale for import, or sale within the United States after import.
Through this filing, Cognex has asked the ITC to investigate its claim that particular machine vision software, machine vision systems and products containing the same infringe the company’s patents in the US. Moreover, the company claims that the respondents have directly infringed or have actively led to or contributed to the infringement of the company’s patents in the US.
In July 2009, the ITC issued an order that it would institute an investigation based upon Cognex’s assertions. In September 2009, Cognex reached a settlement with two of the respondents. This was followed by another settlement with five additional respondents in December 2009.
Management stated that it looks forward to working with Fuji in the future. Cognex is a leading provider of machine vision products that capture and analyze visual information in order to automate tasks, primarily in manufacturing processes.
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