HSIN-CHU, Taiwan, May 15, 2001 (PRIMEZONE) -- In responding to Littelfuse's settlement of lawsuit with CompUSA, Polytronics Technology Corporation filed a declaratory judgement action today in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, in Chicago, Illinois, against Littelfuse, Inc. (Nasdaq:LFUS). In the action, Polytronics seeks a judicial determination that Polytronics SMD1812 devices do not infringe any claims of Littelfuse's U.S. Patent No. 6,023,403.
Polytronics has previously retained U.S. patent counsel to evaluate Littelfuse's '403 patent claims. The counsel has confirmed the company's opinion that there is no such infringement.
In addition, Polytronics has expressed great concern that Littelfuse has threatened customers of Polytronics with patent infringement lawsuits in the United States, while avoiding a direct confrontation with Polytronics. According to the top management of Polytronics:
"We authorized our attorneys to file the declaratory judgement action against Littelfuse to get a judicial determination that Polytronics' SMD 1812 devices do not infringe the '403 patent. We are confident that the court, after reviewing the relevant facts and law, will come to that conclusion. We are also concerned about Littelfuse's tactics of threatening lawsuits against customers who have no real knowledge of the issues involved in this patent dispute. This has caused unnecessary alarm among those customers. For that reason, we authorized the filing of the lawsuit to allay customers' concerns and to obtain a judicial decision that Polytronics' SMD 1812 devices do not infringe the '403 patent."
Polytronics' attorneys plan to ask the federal court in Chicago to establish a schedule that will result in a prompt, complete resolution on this patent dispute.
Polytronics is located in the Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park, and is the first PTC manufacturer in Taiwan to perform R&D, product design and mass production on an integrated basis. With a commitment and devotion to technological innovations, Polytronics is emerging in an environment teeming with competition from various large-size multinationals. Due to its prominence in the areas of low power consumption, resettability, reliability and cost efficiency, Polytronics' products have been widely accepted by the industry.