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Technology Stocks : Electro Scientific??? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Henry D who wrote (568)	4/5/1999 2:14:00 PM
From: vinh pham	Respond to of 723

ESI Patent Declared Valid By Court Portland, Oregon (April 5, 1999) - Electro Scientific Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ-ESIO) announced today that a federal court jury has issued a verdict upholding the validity of ESI's pioneering link blowing patent in a lawsuit against General Scanning, Inc. of Watertown, Massachusetts. The lawsuit before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California (Electro Scientific Industries, Inc. v. General Scanning, Inc., No. C-96-4268 SBA) alleged that GSI infringed certain claims of ESI's patent 5,265,114 entitled “System and Method for Selectively Laser Processing a Target Structure of One or More Materials of a Multimaterial, Multilayer Device.” ESI initiated litigation against General Scanning in December 1996. On September 30, 1998, the Court granted ESI's motion for summary judgment of literal infringement by General Scanning. On March 16, 1999, the Court granted ESI's motion for partial summary judgment that upgrade kits, sold by General Scanning for 1.3 micron laser wavelength memory repair also infringes the ESI patent. Last Friday, after a four-day trial, the jury unanimously rejected GSI's allegations that the claims of the ‘114 patent were invalid. The next phase of the trial is the determination of damages by the jury. This determination is anticipated in the next few days. On March 22, 1999, General Scanning, Inc. merged with Lumonics Inc. of Kanata, Ontario, forming GSI Lumonics Inc. (NASDAQ-GSLI). The patented technology is used in ESI's advanced laser repair systems, which produce 64 and 256 megabit memory chips and semiconductors with embedded memory. The systems are enabling technology for the next generation of semiconductor yield improvement and are the most advanced laser repair systems available on the market. The systems feature patented laser system technology operating at a wavelength of 1.3 microns and offer semiconductor manufacturers a much wider process window and higher yields than systems using conventional 1.047 micron laser technology. About ESI ESI, headquartered in Portland, Oregon, designs and manufactures sophisticated products used around the world in electronics manufacturing including: laser manufacturing systems for semiconductor yield improvement; production and test equipment for the manufacture of surface mount ceramic capacitors; laser trim systems for precise electrical tuning of circuits; precision laser and mechanical drilling systems for electronic interconnection; and machine vision systems. Electro Scientific Industries is traded on the NASDAQ National Market System under the symbol, “ESIO.” ESI's website is esi.com.