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AutoForm and Engineering Technology Associates (ETA) settle patent disputes relating to die design software globally

AutoForm Engineering GmbH and Engineering Technology Associates, Inc. have reached a global settlement of their patent disputes1 and entered a consent judgment2 ending a U.S. patent infringement lawsuit initiated by AutoForm against ETA, the company announced today. The lawsuit was part of AutoForm’s efforts to protect its continuous substantial investments in R&D and its innovative solutions.

The respective patents are directed to the addendum design of deep drawing tools, and protect methods used by AutoForm-DieDesigner software. Pursuant to the settlement:

  • AutoForm and ETA ended the pending U.S. patent infringement lawsuit by entering a consent judgment.
  • ETA agreed to discontinue sale and distribution of its Die Face Engineering (DFE) plug-in for addendum surface generation.
  • ETA agreed not to challenge the validity or enforceability of the AutoForm patents, as explained in the consent judgment.
  • AutoForm agreed not to sue any ETA customers, distributors or end users that hold existing licenses for the DFE plug-in.

The remaining terms of the parties’ settlement agreement are confidential.

  1. AutoForm brought said action for patent infringement in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan alleging that certain ETA products infringed US. Pat. No. 7,623,939 and US Pat. No. 7,894,929 owned by AutoForm and directed to a method and software for addendum design for deep drawing tools.

  2. available at  www.patentlaw.ch/downloadbereich/Consent_Judgment.pdf

Contact

Dr. Markus Thomma

Corporate Marketing Officer

AutoForm Engineering GmbH

Pfäffikon SZ, Switzerland

+41 43 444 6161
E-mail

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