JANUARY 31--National Instruments (NI; Austin, TX; www.ni.com), a supplier of measurement and automation products, has received a favorable jury verdict in its patent-infringement case against The MathWorks in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. The jury found infringement of US Patent Nos. 4,901,221; 4,914,568; and 5,301,336; and noninfringement of 5,291,587. They confirmed all four of the patents to be valid. The patents relate to National Instruments LabVIEW, which contains innovations in programming design tools.
"We are extremely pleased to have further validation of the LabVIEW patents," said James Truchard, NI president, CEO, and cofounder. "LabVIEW has had a revolutionary impact on engineers and scientists. We invested heavily in the intellectual property that has made LabVIEW and virtual instrumentation possible."
The company will ask the Court to issue an injunction to stop The MathWorks' infringement through its Simulink and related products. A second patent suit filed by NI in US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas is currently pending. This suit alleges infringement by The MathWorks of six additional patents held by National Instruments.
