EOS GmbH Electro Optical Systems (Krailling, Germany), manufacturer of laser-sintering systems, has announced that it has filed a patent infringement lawsuit in the South Carolina U.S. District Court against MCP Tooling Technologies Ltd. (Stone, England) and MCP-HEK Tooling GmbH (Lübeck, Germany). The lawsuit alleges infringement of U.S. Patent No. 5,753,171 through the manufacture, sale, and use of the Realizer product line from MCP in the US.
In February 2008, EOS and Trumpf announced a patent license agreement with MCP. Under the agreement, MCP received a non-exclusive license for certain EOS patents, as well as some patent rights from Trumpf regarding the laser-sintering process. These patents are relevant to MCP's product line "Realizer," a line of selective laser melting (SLM) equipment that melts and shapes metal materials like steel and cobalt-chrome. However, the license does not extend to the U.S. and Canada. In the same month, 3D Systems and MCP announced that the MCP Realizer would be distributed in the U.S. As a consequence, EOS filed the patent infringement lawsuit against MCP on May 8th, 2008.
Johann Oberhofer, COO and managing director of EOS, comments: "Filing this patent infringement lawsuit is an essential step for protecting our patent rights in the U.S. We hope that this litigation will quickly resolve the situation."
EOS has had patents granted for a considerable number of its own inventions in the field of laser-sintering. Today, the EOS patent portfolio includes more than 50 patent families worldwide. The company also owns exclusive worldwide rights to all patents owned by 3D Systems Corporation applicable to the field of laser-sintering which were filed prior to August 20th, 2002.
For more information on EOS, visit www.eos.info.
For more Laser Focus World coverage of EOS, see:
Valerie Coffey-Rosich | Contributing Editor
Valerie Coffey-Rosich is a freelance science and technology writer and editor and a contributing editor for Laser Focus World; she previously served as an Associate Technical Editor (2000-2003) and a Senior Technical Editor (2007-2008) for Laser Focus World.
Valerie holds a BS in physics from the University of Nevada, Reno, and an MA in astronomy from Boston University. She specializes in editing and writing about optics, photonics, astronomy, and physics in academic, reference, and business-to-business publications. In addition to Laser Focus World, her work has appeared online and in print for clients such as the American Institute of Physics, American Heritage Dictionary, BioPhotonics, Encyclopedia Britannica, EuroPhotonics, the Optical Society of America, Photonics Focus, Photonics Spectra, Sky & Telescope, and many others. She is based in Palm Springs, California.