25 June 1998: The US firm Corning Incorporated recently announced that it has filed suit with the High Court of Justice in the United Kingdom against the Dutch firm Plasma Optical Fibre, B.V. (POF), f…
25 June 1998: The US firm Corning Incorporated recently announced that it has filed suit with the High Court of Justice in the United Kingdom against the Dutch firm Plasma Optical Fibre, B.V. (POF), for infringing of a Corning optical fibre patent. Corning is seeking damages and an order restraining POF from continuing its patent infringement and to halt imports of the fibre in question. According to Corning, Plasma Optical Fibre of Eindhoven, the Netherlands, has been infringing Corning“s European Patent (UK) No. 0261772 in the manufacture of optical fibre that is being imported into the United Kingdom. This suit is the second such action Corning has taken against POF, having filed a complaint against the company with the US International Trade Commission (USITC) on 9 April this year. In response, the USITC announced on 12 May that it would pursue Corning“s complaint and initiate an investigation of the optical fibres being imported into the United States by POF. The Corning patent relates to a proprietary process for applying a coating to an optical fibre, which protects it during routine handling and installation.