United States District Court
Finds That ZTE Breached Non-Disclosure Agreement Entered Into With
Vringo
Vringo Provides
Additional Updates Regarding Litigation in France, Brazil, and
China
NEW YORK - April 8, 2015 - Vringo,
Inc. (NASDAQ: VRNG), a company engaged in the innovation,
development and monetization of intellectual property, today
announced that the United States District Court for the Southern
District of New York has ruled that ZTE violated the non-disclosure
agreement ("NDA") with Vringo that formed the original basis for
Vringo's claim against ZTE in the United States.
In an order released April 6,
2015, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan granted Vringo's motion for judgment on
the pleadings with respect to the question of whether or not ZTE
breached the NDA entered into by the parties.
On April 7, 2015, the Court held a
Status Conference. Following the Status Conference, the Court
granted Vringo's requests to consolidate the NDA case and the FRAND
case for the purposes of pretrial discovery, to extend the deadline
for fact discovery, to set a deadline for the filing of dispositive
motions, and to seal the unredacted version of Vringo's Motion to
Compel.
In France, trial on ZTE's alleged
infringement of two of Vringo's European patents is scheduled to
take place on April 13, 2015. One of the patents in suit has
already been found infringed by ZTE at trial in Germany, where an
injunction against ZTE remains in place, and, on a preliminary
basis, in the Netherlands.
In Brazil, Court-appointed experts
are finalizing reports, which Vringo believes will demonstrate
ZTE's flagrant disregard for the Court's order enjoining ZTE from
manufacturing, using, offering for sale, selling, installing,
testing, or importing any 3G, 4G, and LTE infrastructure equipment
in Brazil. Vringo expects these reports will be submitted to
the Court imminently.
In China, re-examinations against
Vringo's Chinese patents, filed by ZTE, continue to be heard before
the Patent Re-Examination Board of the State Intellectual Property
Office of the People's Republic of China on a rolling basis. ZTE
has sought to invalidate 33 of Vringo's Chinese patents.
Despite ZTE's irregular activity, described below, to date 14
patents have been maintained valid, 9 have been found invalid, and
are pending appeal, and 2 have been found valid-in-part. In a
number of cases, ZTE has withdrawn its re-examination requests just
before the Patent Re-Examination Board was to maintain the validity
of the patents in those cases, later re-filing the requests. These
second requests could result in the appointment of a new review
panel, which would consider anew ZTE's previously unsuccessful
arguments. To date, Vringo has not filed any actions for patent
infringement against ZTE in China.
Background
On July 2, 2014, Vringo filed a
lawsuit against ZTE in the United States District Court for the
Southern District of New York, seeking a temporary restraining
order and preliminary and permanent injunctions against ZTE,
enjoining ZTE's use of prohibited materials captured under an NDA
entered into with Vringo, including but not limited to ZTE's use of
such materials in its anti-monopoly lawsuit in China against
Vringo. On July 7, 2014, the Court granted a temporary restraining
order against ZTE's use of such material. On July 23, 2014, ZTE
filed a counterclaim against Vringo. On July 24, 2014, the Court
held a hearing on Vringo's motion for a preliminary injunction
against ZTE, which remains pending. The temporary restraining order
remains in place pending the Court's determination of the motion
for preliminary injunction. On October 2, 2014, Vringo filed a
motion for judgment on the pleadings, similar to a motion for
summary judgment, asking the court to render a judgment on Vringo's
breach of contract claim based solely on the pleadings of the
parties.
On February 10, 2015, the United
States District Court for the District of Delaware ordered a case
improperly brought by ZTE against Vringo, alleging breach of
contract, transferred to the United States District Court for the
Southern District of New York, to be consolidated, for at least the
purposes of discovery, with the existing litigation in the latter
court. On February 27, 2015, Vringo filed an Amended Answer and
Counterclaim to ZTE's complaint. Among other claims made against
ZTE, Vringo seeks a final determination on a global FRAND license
for ZTE's use of Vringo's standard-essential patents.
On April 6, 2015, the Court
granted Vringo's motion for judgment on the pleadings in part,
finding that ZTE breached the NDA between the parties. The Court
dismissed Vringo's unfair competition claim against ZTE, but denied
ZTE's motion to dismiss Vringo's claims against ZTE for fraudulent
inducement and breach of the covenant of good faith and fair
dealing.
About Vringo,
Inc.
Vringo, Inc. is engaged in the
innovation, development and monetization of intellectual property
and mobile technologies. Vringo's intellectual property
portfolio consists of over 600 patents and patent applications
covering telecom infrastructure, internet search, and mobile
technologies. The patents and patent applications have been
developed internally, and acquired from third parties. For
more information, visit:www.vringo.com.
Forward-Looking
Statements
This press release includes
forward-looking statements, which may be identified by words such
as "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "estimates," "projects,"
"intends," "should," "seeks," "future," "continue," or the negative
of such terms, or other comparable terminology. Forward-looking
statements are statements that are not historical facts. Such
forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties,
which could cause actual results to differ materially from the
forward-looking statements contained herein. Factors that
could cause actual results to differ materially include, but are
not limited to: our inability to license and monetize our patents,
including the outcome of the litigation against online search firms
and other companies; our inability to monetize and recoup our
investment with respect to patent assets that we acquire; our
inability to develop and introduce new products and/or develop new
intellectual property; our inability to protect our intellectual
property rights; new legislation, regulations or court rulings
related to enforcing patents, that could harm our business and
operating results; unexpected trends in the mobile phone and
telecom infrastructure industries; our inability to raise
additional capital to fund our combined operations and business
plan; our inability to maintain the listing of our securities on a
major securities exchange; the potential lack of market acceptance
of our products; potential competition from other providers and
products; our inability to retain key members of our management
team; the future success of Infomedia and our ability to receive
value from its stock; our ability to continue as a going concern;
our liquidity and other risks and uncertainties and other factors
discussed from time to time in our filings with the Securities and
Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including our annual report on Form
10-K filed with the SEC on March 16, 2015. Vringo expressly
disclaims any obligation to publicly update any forward-looking
statements contained herein, whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise, except as required by
law.
Contacts:
Investors and Media:
Cliff Weinstein
Executive Vice President
Vringo, Inc.
646-532-6777
cweinstein@vringoinc.com
This
announcement is distributed by NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions on
behalf of NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions clients.
The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely
responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the
information contained therein.
Source: Vringo, Inc. via Globenewswire
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