Daily News Briefs

DuPont Photomasks Inc. announced it has begun production of photomask technologies to support semiconductor devices with design rules of 65 nm and below at its new Dresden, Germany, facility. The facility is also the site of the Advanced Mask Technology Center (AMTC), a photomask research and development center jointly owned by Advanced Micro Devices, Infineon Technologies and DuPont Photomasks. DuPont said it plans to acquire equipment now used for research and development at the AMTC for commercial photomask production. . . . Portland, Ore.-based Electro Scientific Industries Inc. (ESI) announced Wednesday it has reached a partial settlement in a patent suit filed against it last year by GSI Lumonics Inc., of Billerica, Mass. The companies agreed to a dismissal of two of GSI's asserted patents. A third asserted GSI patent remains in the case. GSI Lumonics filed a lawsuit last year against ESI in the US District Court for the Central District of California for patent infringement. The complaint alleged ESI is violating GSI Lumonics patents involving technology used in GSI Lumonics' laser systems for processing semiconductor devices. In 2001, ESI received $15.3 million in damages from GSI Lumonics for infringement of an ESI patent. . . . Elbit Vision Systems, a Yoqneam, Israel-based maker of optical inspection and quality monitoring systems, announced that Victor Halpert has resigned from its board to devote more time to his role as lead manager of the Halpert Capital Fund, in New York.