Camtek intends to aggressively defend against new Rudolph patent lawsuit

MIGDAL HAEMEK, ISRAEL: Camtek Ltd has reported that, in its recurring attempts to stop Camtek's activities in the United States, Camtek has learned that Rudolph Technologies Inc. has filed on June 1, 2010, a new patent infringement claim in the US District Court in Minnesota against Camtek, according to which Rudolph claims that Camtek's Falcon and Gannet machines infringe Rudolph's new patent No. 7,779, 528 ("the 528 patent").

Camtek has not yet been served with a complaint in this lawsuit.

The 528 patent was issued on the same day Rudolph filed the new lawsuit against Camtek. Camtek intends to aggressively defend itself from the allegations in this claim.

An earlier patent infringement lawsuit against Camtek with respect to the same Falcon machines is under post trial motions following a jury verdict and judgment against Camtek. If Camtek is not successful in the post trial stage of that lawsuit, it intends to appeal the judgment.

Camtek is respecting the injunction issued by the court as part of the judgment entered on August 31, 2010 according to which Camtek is prohibited from making, using, selling or offering to sell Falcon systems in the United States until the expiration of plaintiff's patent. Accordingly, Camtek is not marketing or selling its Falcon products in the United States and has not sold any Gannet machines in the United States to date.

"Although Rudolph filed an additional patent claim against us, we continue to believe that our Falcon and Gannet products do not infringe Rudolph's patents US 6.826.298 or the 528 patent, and beyond we believe that the patents themselves are invalid," commented Rafi Amit, Camtek's CEO.

"We will continue to aggressively defend Camtek's rights to sell its tools in the United States, while continuing to serve the larger markets outside the United States. We believe that Rudolph's new lawsuit reflects an attempt to harm Camtek due to an inability on the part of Rudolph to compete on the delivery of products and service, and that we will be successful in overcoming these unjust claims. We want to assure our US customers that we will continue to service and support the Falcon products that they have purchased, as permitted in the existing injunction."

Camtek provides automated solutions dedicated for enhancing production processes and yield, enabling our customers new technologies in two industries; semiconductors, PCB and IC substrates.