Companies Expand Deal on Fiber Lasers

!%Imra America Inc.%! of Ann Arbor, Mich., and !%7355%%Jenoptik Laser%!, a subsidiary of Jenoptik AG of Jena, Germany, have completed a second, more expansive licensing agreement for the use of Imra intellectual property centered on US Patent No. 5,818,630 – high-power fiber lasers. The agreement will bolster Jenoptik’s Laser & Optical Systems business and increase its competitiveness in a growing market for high-power fiber lasers, especially in the automotive manufacturing sector. Imra has been in a court dispute with IPG Photonics of Oxford, Mass., over the patent since 2006. The trial, which took place in October, had not been resolved as of press time.