Color Kinetics Incorporated (NASDAQ: CLRK) announced that the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts issued an order dismissing the lawsuit filed by Super Vision International, Inc. against Color Kinetics alleging infringement of U.S. Patent No. 4,962,687 (the "High End Patent").
The Court determined that Super Vision was not the owner of the High End Patent and that it was, instead, simply a non-exclusive licensee, with no right to enforce the patent. The Court ruled that Super Vision’s suit is to be dismissed, but did not exclude the possibility that Super Vision could at some point acquire rights from the patentee that might permit it to assert a claim in the future.
As background, on March 4, 2004, Super Vision announced that it had acquired from High End Systems a patent relating to variable color lighting systems. On March 5, 2004, Super Vision filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida alleging that Color Kinetics had infringed the High End patent and sought damages of $10.5 million. Super Vision’s High End patent lawsuit was subsequently transferred from Florida to the federal court in Massachusetts.
Relating to the separate lawsuit pursuant to which, on August 22, 2005 the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts granted all of Color Kinetics' motions for summary judgment against Super Vision with respect to the validity and infringement of Color Kinetics' patents and inequitable conduct, the issue of damages, attorneys’ fees, and an injunction remains subject to a trial at a later date.
For more information:
www.colorkinetics.com
www.svision.com