News Article
Imra on the war path with Coherent
The firm is alleging that Coherent has infringed patents essential for the precise micromachining of most materials used for microelectronics application lasers
Imra America, Inc., has filed a patent infringement lawsuit at the District Court of Duesseldorf in Germany.
The allegation has been made against the German subsidiaries of Coherent Inc., namely Coherent Kaiserslautern GmbH (formerly Lumera Laser GmbH) and Coherent (Deutschland) GmbH.
The lawsuit asserts that certain laser products marketed by Coherent in Germany infringe the German part of the European Patent 0 754 103 B1 “Method for controlling configuration of laser-induced breakdown and ablation”.
The suit involves a patent considered essential for the precise micromachining of most materials used for microelectronics applications with picosecond and femtosecond lasers. Material examples given in the patent are gold and glass.
The European Patent 0 754 103 B1 was invented by Professor Gerard Mourou (Presently Professor of the Ecole Polytechnique Haut Collège) and his colleagues while he was at the University of Michigan. Imra is the exclusive licensee of this patent for all non biological applications.
“We have multiple license agreements with many laser manufacturers,” Takashi Omitsu, President of Imra America remarks, “We truly try to avoid filing lawsuits. However, we could not come to a reasonable solution with them for both our existing licensees and ourselves. We filed this suit as a last resort.”
Imra’s technology portfolio includes over 450 US and international patents and patent applications. The company’s pioneering technologies, rigorous quality control and high volume manufacturing operation make its products for scientific, OEM and industrial use. Imra also to research areas in new functional nano-materials for bio-medical and energy applications.
The allegation has been made against the German subsidiaries of Coherent Inc., namely Coherent Kaiserslautern GmbH (formerly Lumera Laser GmbH) and Coherent (Deutschland) GmbH.
The lawsuit asserts that certain laser products marketed by Coherent in Germany infringe the German part of the European Patent 0 754 103 B1 “Method for controlling configuration of laser-induced breakdown and ablation”.
The suit involves a patent considered essential for the precise micromachining of most materials used for microelectronics applications with picosecond and femtosecond lasers. Material examples given in the patent are gold and glass.
The European Patent 0 754 103 B1 was invented by Professor Gerard Mourou (Presently Professor of the Ecole Polytechnique Haut Collège) and his colleagues while he was at the University of Michigan. Imra is the exclusive licensee of this patent for all non biological applications.
“We have multiple license agreements with many laser manufacturers,” Takashi Omitsu, President of Imra America remarks, “We truly try to avoid filing lawsuits. However, we could not come to a reasonable solution with them for both our existing licensees and ourselves. We filed this suit as a last resort.”
Imra’s technology portfolio includes over 450 US and international patents and patent applications. The company’s pioneering technologies, rigorous quality control and high volume manufacturing operation make its products for scientific, OEM and industrial use. Imra also to research areas in new functional nano-materials for bio-medical and energy applications.
