IPG Photonics Settles Lawsuit

Fiber laser and amplifier maker IPG Photonics Corp. announced yesterday that it has settled a patent infringement suit filed by Scientific Atlanta, a subsidiary of Cisco Systems Inc. Terms of the settlement agreement were not disclosed.

In April 2005, end-to-end network provider Scientific Atlanta of Lawrenceville, Ga., filed a complaint with the US District Court for Massachusetts alleging that IPG Photonics' use of erbium and ytterbium co-doped optical fiber, and certain products that incorporate that fiber, infringed one of its patents. IPG, which is based in Oxford, subsequently filed a countersuit against Scientific Atlanta.

This is the second patent litigation against IPG that the company has settled in 2007; in January it settled a lawsuit brought by Spectra-Physics Inc., a division of Newport Corp., that alleged that some of IPG's laser and amplifier products infringed one of its patents (See IPG Photonics and Newport Settle Patent Lawsuit). The company said neither settlement will have a material effect on its financial statements.

Still pending for IPG is a patent infringement suit filed in December 2006 by IMRA, a maker of ultrafast and short-pulsed fiber lasers based in Ann Arbor, Mich (See IMRA Files Patent Suit Against IPG)

For more information, visit: www.ipgphotonics.com