SYQUEST LAWSUIT PRESS RELEASE
Tuesday January 28 6:57 PM EDT
SyQuest Files Lawsuit Against Nomai, S.A., Alleges That French Firm Sold or Distributed Proprietary Cartridges
FREMONT, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 28, 1997-- SyQuest Technology Inc today announced that it has filed suit against Nomai, S.A. of Avranches, France, in Federal District Court in San Francisco for patent, copyright, and trademark infringement as well as breach of contract and unfair competition.
Also named defendants with respect to the infringement and unfair competition claims were Electronique d2, a French distributor of Nomai products, and its U.S. affiliate, LaCie Ltd.
The suit alleges that Nomai attempted to capitalize on SyQuest's innovation and technological leadership through the unauthorized sale and/or distribution in the United States of proprietary 3-1/2 inch and 5-1/4 inch replacement cartridges for SyQuest removable disk drives.
In November 1996, SyQuest abandoned previously announced plans to acquire Nomai when the majority shareholders of the French firm attempted to radically alter the terms of the acquisition as set forth in a letter of intent that they has signed five days before. The lawsuit includes a claim for damages of at least $2 million for breach of contract arising from alleged breaches of the letter of intent.
"SyQuest has established itself as a leader in the removable cartridge hard drive industry, with an installed base of over three million drives and 18 million cartridges," said Ed Marinaro, chairman. "In so doing, our company has invested substantial amounts of time and money in R&D and in establishing its intellectual property portfolio. We will take all steps necessary to protect SyQuest's investments, and those of our shareholders, from companies that would infringe our intellectual property rights."
About SyQuest
SyQuest Technology Inc. is headquartered in Fremont and maintains manufacturing plants in Fremont and Penang, Malaysia, with additional facilities in Colorado, California, Europe and Asia. The company offers removable cartridge hard drives for Apple, Windows, MS-DOS, PC-DOS, UNIX, SGI and Sun OS platforms.
SyQuest (SYQT) is publicly traded on NASDAQ's National Market System. See SyQuest on the World Wide Web at syquest.com
This news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including competition in the marketplace for the company's products and other risks detailed from time to time in the reports filed by SyQuest with the SEC, including the reports on Forms 10-Q and 10-K.
SyQuest and the SyQuest logo are registered trademarks of
SyQuest Technology Inc. All other brands or tradenames are the
property of their respective companies.
CONTACT: SyQuest Technology Inc.
Henry Montgomery, 510/226-4000
or
Miller/Shandwick Technologies
Richard Cline, 415/962-9550
rcline@miller.shandwick.com |
