Creative Technology Responds to Newly Asserted Aureal Patent Claims
New Lawsuit by Aureal is Without Merit, Appears Designed Only to Respond To Recent Litigation Reversals Suffered by Aureal
December 8, 1998 11:00 AM
MILPITAS, Calif., Dec. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Creative Technology Ltd. CREAF announced that it was served today with a lawsuit by Aureal Semiconductor, Inc. alleging infringement of two Aureal patents. Aureal is the new name adopted by Media Vision after it emerged from bankruptcy following what has been called the largest and most elaborate financial fraud case in the history of Silicon Valley.
Aureal's newly asserted claims come over four months after Creative began shipping Sound Blaster Live!, one of the products Aureal claims is infringing. The new suit by Aureal also follows the recent rejection of Aureal's key defense in a separate, long-standing patent case that Creative filed last February against Aureal. Creative's case against Aureal is set for trial next year.
"We regard this latest move by Aureal as an obvious, by-the-book, defensive ploy -- an entirely predictable move given the recent rejection of Aureal's key defense in Creative's own long-standing patent case against Aureal," said John Danforth, vice president and general counsel at Creative Labs, Inc., Creative's US subsidiary.
"Creative's long-standing patent case against Aureal, having now gotten past an unsuccessful summary judgment motion by Aureal, is set to go to trial next year," Danforth continued. "Last week Creative filed a motion seeking to have the trial date expedited to February, 1999. In addition, early next year the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals will hear Creative's motion for a preliminary injunction seeking to immediately enjoin all further shipments of Aureal's Vortex and Vortex 2 products. Creative's opening brief to the Federal Circuit in support of that motion is set to be filed this week. Faced with these adverse developments in the long-standing patent litigation against it, Aureal now has chosen to belatedly assert two patents against a Creative product that has been on the market for many months -- a product that clearly does not infringe. Creative is highly confident it will prevail in this matter, and has opinions of outside patent counsel confirming that it does not infringe." |
