Odetics wins patent appeal against StorageTek: but loser threatens to 'appeal the appeal.' (case involving robotic tape cassette handling systems; Storage Technology Corp.)(Brief Article)

Broadcasting & Cable, July, 1997 by Dickson, Glen

Automation supplier Odetics has won an appeal against Storage Technology Corp. in a patent infringement suit involving its robotic tape cassette handling systems.

The suit dates back to June 1995, when Anaheim, Calif.-based Odetics filed suit that Louisville, Colo.-based Storage Tek was infringing on its patent for library pass-through ports (U.S. Patent No. 4,779,151) in StorageTek's automated tape library system products. In February 1996, a jury in Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia ruled that StorageTek hadn't infringed on Odetics' intellectual property based on a claim construction determined by the court before the trial.

Odetics appealed that decision in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which now...