Angela:
With all due respect to patent attornies (none of my best friends are patent
attornies ;>) ) they can only opine on the validity of patents. Since, at least
in the US, a patent is granted by the federal patent office, the Federal Courts
have exclusive jurisdiction to determine the validity of a patent. I have no
knowledge about the practices and procedures of other countries. There may be
prior art, and the US patents may have been improperly granted, but they are
there nonetheless, and until someone successfully challenges them in the Federal
Courts they must be reckoned with.
Chuck Dolci
Director, Environment, Health & Safety
*From: [log in to unmask]
*To: [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask]
*Subject: RE: [LF] Sn-Ag-Cu Patent
*MIME-Version: 1.0
*
*But keep in mind that the Sn/4Ag/0.5 Cu alloy has been determined to be
*"free and clear" by several patent attorneys based on the prior art in the
*1950's as well as physically being outside the Ames patent. This is a fact.
*The most intelligent thing to do would be to have your attorney look at the
*patents as well as their patent history that is available and look at the
*prior art (Gunter Petzow) and make the decision from that standpoint.
*Angela
*
*-----Original Message-----
*From: Charles Dolci [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
*Sent: Friday, April 20, 2001 11:44 AM
*To: [log in to unmask]
*Subject: Re: [LF] Sn-Ag-Cu Patent
*
*
*Like most news articles it doesn't say a heck of a lot. All one can glean
*from
*this article is that the two parties fighting over patent rights have
*resolved
*their differences. Nothing in the article says that the patent holders will
*actually start licensing the technology to anyone. And, of course, it
*doesn't
*say what the royalties will be if they do start licensing the technology. So
*in
*addition to increased materials costs (I assume silver and copper are more
*expensive than lead) solder makers will have to pay a royalty to the patent
*holders (unless Senju Metal and Matsushita Electric decide to be altruistic
*and
*not charge a royalty)
*Note also that the article says "The move makes it possible for __Japanese
*equipment manufacturers__ to purchase Sn-Ag-Cu solder from Senju Metal,
*Nihon
*Superior or any vendors licensed by both companies..." It says nothing about
*non-Japanese OEM's or the licenses from the US patent holders (although that
*may
*be because the article originated in Japan and was aimed at a Japanese
*audience??).
*
*Nor does it say what rights the US patent holders obtained from the Japanese
*patent holders. However, I suspect that cross license agreements were
*negotiated
*since that is the common way these disputes are resolved so that the US
*patent
*holders can license whatever they got from the Japanese patents.
*
*On the issue of sublicensing - that is not likely to be relevant to OEMs. If
*Senju Metal grants a license to ABC Solder Co. Ltd. anyone who buys solder
*from
*ABC Solder will be deemed to have a "license" and will not need to get
*seperate
*licences from Senju; otherwise the license from Senju to ABC would be
*meaningless.
*I don't know what the rules are in Japan, so the Japanese patent rights
*holders
*may be able to discriminate against certain solder makers in granting or
*withholding licenses. In the US, even though a patent is a stae granted
*monopoly, if a holder of a patent does decide to license the technology it
*can
*not do so in a way the restricts competition (i.e. its licensing practices
*can
*not violate the US anti-trust laws). In other words they can not use the
*state
*granted monopoly in a monopolistc way. [Don't worry, it makes no sense to me
*either]
*As an aside, since both US patent holders are taxpayer funded institutions
*there
*may be certain rules that apply to how they can exploit their patent rights.
*I
*will make some enquiries among my Intellectual Property colleagues.
*
*Chuck Dolci
*Director, Environment, Health & Safety
*
**MIME-Version: 1.0
**X-Priority: 3
**X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
**X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.50.4133.2400
**From: David Suraski <[log in to unmask]>
**Subject: [LF] Sn-Ag-Cu Patent
**To: [log in to unmask]
**
**Hi All,
**
**I found the press release below while on IPC's leadfree site. Could
**someone please explain what this means? Has the patent been opened up
**or do manufacturers in Japan now need to sub-license the alloy?
**
**Does this do anything to resolve the potential patent issues surrounding
**the use of a Sn-Ag-Cu alloy in the U.S. or importing these assemblies
**into the U.S.(except for from Japan)?
**
**Thanks,
**
**David
**
**Pb-Free Solder Patent Problems Finally Resolved
**
**Senju Metal Industry Co, Ltd, and Nihon Superior Co, Ltd, have resolved
**their patent dispute concerning Sn-Ag-Cu-based Pb-free solder. Rights
**held by Senju Metal and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co, Ltd, and
**other rights held by Nihon Superior and the US Department of Energy's
**Ames Laboratory at Ohio State University, have been unified into a set
**for licensing to other solder manufacturers.
**
**The move makes it possible for Japanese equipment manufacturers to
**purchase Sn-Ag-Cu solder from Senju Metal, Nihon Superior or any vendors
**licensed by both companies, and to sell equipment products in both Japan
**and America without fears of infringement.
**
**The problem stemmed from the fact that Senju Metal and Matsushita
**Electric were granted the patent in Japan, while the Ames Laboratory
**held patent rights in the US, meaning that neither side could sell in
**the other country.
**
**Sn-Ag-Cu solder is the most promising Pb-free solder, and the decision
**to unify rights is expected to accelerate its adoption by manufacturers
**as the "standard" lead-free material.
**
**(April 2001 Issue, Nikkei Electronics Asia)
**
*
*----------------------------------------------------------------------------
*-----
*Leadfee Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8d
*To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in
*the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Leadfree
*To temporarily stop delivery of Leadree for vacation breaks send: SET
*Leadfree NOMAIL
*Search previous postings at: www.ipc.org > On-Line Resources & Databases >
*E-mail Archives
*Please visit IPC web site (http://www.ipc.org/html/forum.htm) for additional
*information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700
*ext.5315
*----------------------------------------------------------------------------
*-----
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Leadfee Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8d
To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in
the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Leadfree
To temporarily stop delivery of Leadree for vacation breaks send: SET Leadfree NOMAIL
Search previous postings at: www.ipc.org > On-Line Resources & Databases > E-mail Archives
Please visit IPC web site (http://www.ipc.org/html/forum.htm) for additional
information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.5315
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
