Foley Obtains ITC Initial Determination in Favor of MVTec

ITC Invalidates All Cognex Claims as Directed to Unpatentable Subject Matter
Foley obtained a U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) initial determination in favor of client MVTec Software GmbH, a leading international manufacturer of standard software products for machine vision, in its patent-infringement dispute raised by Cognex Corporation.

Following an eight-day hearing, the ITC ruled in its initial determination that MVTec did not infringe upon U.S. Patent Numbers 7,016,539 and 7,065,262, which involve a method of “finding and locating patterns in images which can be used, for example, in the machine vision industry.” Notably, in what may be the first trial court decision based on the Supreme Court’s In re Bilski decision, the ITC also found all of the claims to be invalid as directed to unpatentable subject matter.

“The ITC’s initial determination is a tremendous victory as it allows MVTec to continue to sell and import its HALCON software in the United States,” said Matthew Lowrie, chair of Foley’s Intellectual Property Litigation practice group and lead counsel for MVTec. “We’re pleased to have obtained this favorable decision on behalf of MVTec and will continue to see this dispute through to its conclusion.”

Cognex had initially sued MVTec on nine patents in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. After MVTec placed the patents into reexamination, Cognex filed an ITC action on three of the nine patents. Cognex was forced to withdraw its claims on one of those patents during discovery and the remaining two went to trial before Judge Charneski at the ITC.

In addition to Lowrie, the Foley team representing MVTec includes Aaron Moore, a partner in the firm’s Boston office and Kevin Littman, senior counsel also in the firm’s Boston office.

Comprised of nearly 240 attorneys, Foley’s Intellectual Property practice is a recognized leader in IP legal services. For the eighth consecutive year, Foley was ranked by IP Today as one of the top 10 firms for the number of patents issued and by IP Law & Business magazine as one of the top patent litigation firms in the nation. These rankings make Foley the only general practice firm to appear in the top 10 for both patent litigation and patent procurement.