Nanoco Group plc (LON:NANO), a world leader in the development and manufacture of cadmium-free quantum dots and other specific nanomaterials emanating from its technology platform, has announced that it has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against certain defendants in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. The lawsuit claims infringement of Nanoco’s U.S. Patent No.’s: 7,588,828; 7,803,423; 7,867,557; 8,524,365. These patents relate to Nanoco’s innovative technology for the synthesis of quantum dots.
Named as defendants in the lawsuit are: (i) LG Electronics, Inc. and (ii) LG Electronics U.S.A., Inc., both of which are involved in the sale and distribution of components and fully assembled units for the display market, specifically televisions utilising quantum dots to significantly enhance the viewing experience of the user.
Nanoco has retained Caldwell, Cassady and Curry (CCC), an international IP law firm based in Dallas, Texas, USA, to represent it in patent enforcement and litigation. CCC were one of the legal firms who were involved in Nanoco’s successful litigation against Samsung.
In the lawsuit, Nanoco alleges that the defendants have wilfully infringed the Company’s patents and seeks a permanent injunction from further acts of infringement and monetary damages. At this stage, the lawsuit does not specify the quantum of monetary damages sought by Nanoco and it may take some time before this is established.
Shareholders are reminded that a lawsuit can take several years to progress to a trial and there is never any guarantee of success or as to the monetary damages that may be awarded if the jury and/or court finds in favour of Nanoco.
While conscious of the potential risks involved in litigation, the Board is confident in the potential prospects for the Company in doing so, and would not be undertaking this if it were not clearly in the best interests of Nanoco shareholders.
The Company will keep shareholders updated on key developments.
Dr Jalal Bagherli, Nanoco’s Chairman, commented:
“Nanoco proved the value and validity of its IP as part of the Samsung litigation process. At that time, we re-iterated our intent to aggressively pursue other potential infringers of our IP to ensure a fair outcome for shareholders of Nanoco. While there is potential for damages, litigation itself carries considerable inherent risk and the Board must weigh the opportunity versus the cost. In this instance, we believe the potential return to be worth the costs of commencing litigation.
Nanoco continues to remain open to finding a mutually acceptable commercial solution, but the action is appropriate to take at this time in the best interest of the Company and its shareholders, to defend one of our core assets.”
