Ruling on a variety of procedural matters, Judge LaPorte, among other things, permitted ASM to bring an additional cause of action against Genus for infringement of ASM's "showerhead" patent, United States Patent No. 4,798,165 (entitled "Apparatus for Chemical Vapor Deposition Using an Axially Symmetric Gas Flow"). Judge LaPorte also refused to allow Genus to pursue its anti-trust allegations against ASM concurrently with the patent case, severing and staying the anti-trust claims and all related discovery until "after trial on the patents at issue".
"We are pleased with Judge LaPorte's ruling," said Daniel Queyssac, President of ASM America. "The Judge has refused to allow Genus to distract the proceedings from the patent case at hand which we look forward to pursing vigorously in the months ahead."
ASM currently has three patents pending in litigation against Genus with Genus pursuing one patent against ASM.
About ASM
ASM International N.V. is headquartered in Bilthoven, the Netherlands. ASM International is a global company, serving one of the most important and demanding industries in the world. The Company possesses a strong technological base, state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities, a competent and qualified workforce and a highly trained, strategically distributed support network. ASM International's subsidiaries design and manufacture equipment and materials used to produce semiconductor devices. ASM International and its subsidiaries provide production solutions for wafer processing, assembly and packaging through their facilities in the United States, Europe, Japan and Asia. ASM International's common stock shares trade on Nasdaq (symbol ASMI) and the Euronext Stock Exchange in Amsterdam (symbol ASM). For more information, visit ASM's Web site at http://www.asm.com
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Safe Harbor Statement under the US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: The statements regarding orders, earnings development and the effects of research and new products on ASM's future, and other matters discussed in this statement, except for any historical data, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. These include, but are not limited to economic conditions in the semiconductor industry, currency fluctuations, the timing of significant orders, market acceptance of new products, competitive factors, risk factors related to litigation and other risks indicated in filings from time to time with the SEC and Stock Exchange Authorities.