Ag And Applied Are At It Again - AG Associates legal battle with Applied Materials - Company Business and Marketing

Electronic News, August 17, 1998

Just when you thought it was safe to start telling lawyer jokes again, AG Associates has turned up the heat in its long-running legal battle with mega-equipment provider Applied Materials. AG filed a lawsuit against Applied on Aug. 5 in the U.S. District Court for Northern California, claiming Applied's Centura system infringes its U.S.

Patent No. 5,156,820 for rapid thermal processing (RTP). Then, last week, the company filed another patent infringement suit, this time in the U.S. Court District Court for the district of Delaware, claiming Centura also infringes U.S. Patent No.'s 5,002,630 and 5,324,684 applying to rapid thermal chemical vapor deposition (CVD). AG would not comment on the legal maneuvers, but its lawyer, Morgan Chu of Century City, Calif.-based Irell & Manella, said he expects that Applied will next respond to the pleading, by submitting to or denying allegations, and then normal discovery would take place. AG and Applied have been at it for more than a year. Applied sued AG in May 1997 for patent infringement of two patents. Since then, AG has fought back. AG filed patent infringement suits against Applied in November 1997 and then again in March. The recent action brings the total number of patents in question between the two companies to nine. u