Xerox Sues U.S. Robotics Over Patent Infringement
PR Newswire - April 30, 1997 10:21
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ROCHESTER, N.Y., April 30, 1997 -- Xerox Corporation announced today that
it had filed suit against U.S. Robotics Corporation for patent infringement by
its "Pilot" hand-held computer and its separately sold "Graffiti" software.
The suit was filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Rochester.
The Xerox patent covers handwriting recognition technology, known as
Unistrokes, which was invented at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center in 1993.
The Xerox patent, issued Jan. 21, 1997, covers the use and recognition of
handwritten text using an alphabet system designed especially for reliable
recognition in pen computers thus eliminating much of the ambiguity of prior
computerized handwriting recognition systems. According to Xerox, the
technology has been a boon to the personal digital assistant industry by
enabling users to input text with a pen stroke.
A vice president at Palm Computing, now a subsidiary of U.S. Robotics, had
approached Xerox for information about licensing the Unistrokes technology
after reading an article about it. Although he was told that Xerox had a
patent pending on Unistrokes, U.S. Robotics adopted it without obtaining a
license. When the patent was issued, it was immediately brought to U.S.
Robotics' attention and, although the company talked with Xerox, it failed to
take a license.
Since the infringement was "willful and deliberate," Xerox is seeking
treble damages and an injunction to prevent further infringement.
SOURCE Xerox Corporation
CONTACT: Judd Everhart of Xerox Corporation, 203-968-3572 |
