The Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences Decides in Favor of Convolve Against...

The Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences Decides in Favor of Convolve
Against Seagate in Disk Drive Technology Interference

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Jan. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- The Board of Patent Appeals and
Interferences of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office found in favor of
technology company Convolve Inc. and against Seagate Technology Inc. in a
patent dispute brought by Convolve against Seagate regarding disk drive
technology. The Board denied Seagate's motions challenging the patentability
of Convolve's claims. Seagate did not appeal the Board's decision.
Convolve's lead counsel in the interference, Charles L. ("Chico") Gholz of
Oblon, Spivak, McClelland, Maier & Neustadt, P.C., said, "We are extremely
pleased with the Board's decision, which vindicates Convolve's position that
it made the invention in dispute first and that Seagate derived that invention
from Convolve. Also, the Board made important law on the proper
interpretation of a highly controversial section of the patent statute, 35
U.S.C. $ 135(b)(2)." Convolve was represented by Chico Gholz and Todd Baker of
Oblon, Spivak.
Convolve and its licensor MIT are also seeking damages in an ongoing
lawsuit against Seagate and its customer Compaq Computer Corp. in which
Convolve and MIT allege infringement of two related patents as well as
numerous trade secret misappropriations, all involving Convolve's proprietary
disk drive technologies. The suit was initially filed in July 2000 in the
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. A trial date has
not been set.
HP, which acquired Compaq in 2002, stated in their recent 10K dated
January 2, 2008, that Seagate was indemnifying them on one patent in this
nearly 8-year litigation and they are seeking to have Seagate indemnify them
with respect to the second patent in the suit.
Convolve is the exclusive licensee of patented motion control technology
called Input Shaping(R), originally developed at and licensed from MIT. This
technology permits disk drives to perform seeks significantly faster and also
dramatically reduces the seek noise. Convolve's core vibration reduction
technology is licensed to many large companies worldwide and the U.S.
government. For more information on Convolve visit www.convolve.com.
Assisting clients for 40 years, Oblon, Spivak, McClelland, Maier &
Neustadt, P.C., in Alexandria, Va., is one of the largest intellectual
property specialty firms in the United States. The firm provides a full range
of intellectual property services, including litigation matters in all courts.
The firm also continues to have a significant trademark, copyright and patent
interference practice.
SOURCE Oblon, Spivak

Vivian Hood, +1-904-220-1915, for Oblon, Spivak