EOS, a manufacturer
of laser-sintering systems, announced that it has filed a patent infringement
lawsuit against Phenix Systems at the United States District Court for the
Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division. The lawsuit alleges
infringement of U.S. Patent Nos. 5,753,274 and 6,042,774 through the
manufacture, sale, and use of the PXL, PXM, PXS, and PXS Dental product lines
from Phenix in the U.S.
During the second half of 2011, Phenix had announced the commercial manufacture,
sale, and use of exactly these product lines publicly, even though EOS had
apprised Phenix of its patent portfolio several times. As a consequence, EOS
filed the patent lawsuit against Phenix on March 5, 2012.
The Complaint
against Phenix sets forth that Phenix is directly infringing, inducing others
to infringe, and contributing to infringement of the 274 and 774 Patents in
violation of 35 U.S.C. § 271. Phenix had actual notice of the existing EOS
patent and despite such notice, has continued to engage in acts of
infringement.
Johann Oberhofer,
CFO of EOS, comments: “Filing this patent infringement lawsuit is an essential
step in protecting our patent rights in the U.S. We hope that this litigation
will quickly resolve the situation.”
EOS has patents
granted for a considerable number of its own inventions in the field of laser
sintering. The EOS patent portfolio includes more than 50 patent families
worldwide. The company owns exclusive worldwide rights to all patents owned by
3D Systems Corporation applicable to the field of laser sintering which were
filed prior to August 20, 2002.
EOS Electro Optical Systems GmbH, www.eos.info