ESI and Cognex reach settlement agreement over patent-infringement dispute

DECEMBER 8--Electro Scientific Industries Inc. (Portland, OR; www.elcsci.com/) has entered into a settlement and license agreement with Cognex Corporation (www.cognex.com) to resolve the lawsuit filed by Cognex against ESI in February 2001 alleging that ESI infringed Cognex US Patent No. 5,371,690. Under the settlement agreement, Cognex has granted ESI a nonexclusive license to the patent, which covers machine-vision technology, as well as certain covenants not to sue under various other patents related to surface-mount equipment.

In connection with this settlement, ESI will record a charge to operations of $1.8 million in the second quarter of FY2005. "We are pleased to have settled this dispute and we are moving forward with our focus on providing world-class vision solutions to our customers and the marketplace," noted Nick Konidaris, ESI president and chief executive officer.

ESI is a supplier of world-class production laser systems that help its microelectronics customers achieve compelling yield and productivity gains. The company's application-specific products enhance electronic-device performance in three sectors--semiconductors, components and electronic interconnect--by enabling precision fine-tuning of device microfeatures in high-volume manufacturing environments.