Scientific-Atlanta Wins Gemstar Ruling
Reuters
Monday, November 4, 2002; 12:43 PM
ATLANTA (Reuters) - Cable television set-top box maker Scientific-Atlanta Inc. on Monday said a Georgia federal court has thrown out some patent infringement claims against it made by Gemstar-TV Guide International Inc.
Atlanta-based Scientific-Atlanta said the court ruled the company's Explorer 3000 and 8600x set-top boxes do not infringe on two patents held by Gemstar, which makes interactive television programming guides.
That same court previously threw out claims made by Gemstar on the same two patents against a different Scientific-Atlanta set-top series.
Scientific-Atlanta also said additional patents remain under contention in the same Georgia suit.
Scientific-Atlanta shares were up $1.47, or 11.1 percent, at $14.66 in afternoon trade on the New York Stock Exchange, while Gemstar shares were flat at $3.63.
Gemstar, which is under formal investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and in the process of restating some past results, replaced Chief Executive Henry Yuen last month with Jeff Shell, a former executive of Gemstar's largest shareholder, News Corp. Ltd.
That news led to a one-day rally of more than 26 percent for Gemstar stock, though it is still down more than 88 percent for the year.
The company has suffered a number of major litigation setbacks this year, including the loss of a patent-infringement claim against Scientific-Atlanta and others before the International Trade Commission.
Gemstar, which had been booking licensing revenue from Scientific-Atlanta it never received, believing it would prevail in its patent suits against the company, said last Thursday it would reverse that revenue. |
