View PDFFREMONT, Calif., May 14, 2003—Lam Research Corporation (Nasdaq: LRCX) today announced the filing of a patent infringement suit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, based in San Francisco, against Schunk Semiconductor and its subsidiary Xycarb Ceramics for their alleged unauthorized sale and distribution of replacement electrodes used in Lam’s plasma etch reactors.
The complaint alleges infringement of Lam’s U.S. Patent No. 5,074,456 entitled “Composite Electrode for Plasma Processes” and seeks both preliminary and permanent injunctive relief to prevent Schunk/Xycarb from manufacturing, selling, or distributing the infringing product. In addition to compensatory damages, the complaint also seeks punitive damages and attorney’s fees.
“We are aggressively protecting our investment in the intellectual property rights of our proprietary replacement parts worldwide,” said Jim Goodrich, Senior Director of Materials for the Customer Support Business Group at Lam. “Lam makes significant investments in the development of new technologies and materials to support our customers through improved tool and part performance. We are confident that the court will uphold our patent rights,” Goodrich concluded.
Lam owns additional patents in multiple jurisdictions, including the United States, Korea, Japan, and Europe, covering a wide variety of electrode assemblies and other proprietary replacement parts.
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements which are subject to the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements relate to the outcome of the pending patent litigation and Lam’s ongoing investment in new technologies and materials. Such statements are based on current expectations and are subject to risks, uncertainties and changes in condition, significance, value and effect as well as other risks detailed in documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including specifically the reports on Form 10-K for the year ended June 30, 2002, and the Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 30, 2003, which could cause actual results to vary from expectations. The company undertakes no obligation to update the information or statements made in this press release.
Lam Research Corporation is a leading supplier of wafer fabrication equipment and services to the world’s semiconductor industry. Lam’s common stock trades on the Nasdaq National Market under the symbol LRCX. The Company’s World Wide Web address is http://www.lamrc.com.