Just got off the phone with AXC IR, and here are the answers to most of our questions that can be answered. Unfortunately, I was woken out of sleep to answer the call, and I had no list of prepared questions, and most of our questions can't be answered definitively, but here goes:
The judge in this first PIP case decided on his own early on to split the trial into 3 parts, AXC had no control over it, one separate trial for each patent. Each is wholly independent of each other, so a win in one has no bearing on the others, unless solely psychologically as Mitsu sees the handwriting on the wall re: AXC's seemingly well established patent protection.
The jury decided the 8M fine, but defense motions have yet to be heard, "you can bet they're not taking it sitting down" she said. The judge has leeway to revise the 8M up, down, or leave it as is based on his opinion of Mitsu's defense.
The whole affair will take some weeks to wrap up, and it is probable that the other trials won't start till this one is finished, but neither do they have a timetable or promise that the other 2 will follow immediately one after the other on each other's tail.
She believes that its the judge who decides lawyer fees Y/N, how much, and she's pretty sure lawyer fees weren't included in the 8M settlement. However, these were her own opinions, she confessed she's not a legal expert.
She doesn't know if lawyer fees will be higher over this period of the lawsuit, or if the discovery and preparation process was the more expensive. (the more I think of it, the more I think the discovery phase and documentation phase is more costly. They've got to arrive in court all prepared, and I'd assume all those costs are incurred earlier on)
She did say 1Q earnings will take a hit because of lawyer costs, and seemed to emphasize this fact.
Sorry I wasn't better prepared to ask questions, but really, unless you're talking to that law firm itself, or a more in the know CFO or the big Chair himself, I doubt how we'd get any more info. Unless someone has very specific questions and lots of them, I don't really think much more can be found out. We're doomed to a waiting game I believe, but as others have said, it really does seem these trials are stacked in AXC's favor.
Another reminder, that new DST sales are only fully getting going in this quarter. |
