Following an alert from Xerox that the company will seek damages after winning a case against Palm regarding its use of handwriting recognition, Palm says it will appeal.
For some time now, Palm and Xerox have been fighting in courts over whether Palm's use of its Graffiti handwriting recognition solution inflicts on patents held by Xerox. Now, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York has issued a ruling in favor of Xerox - but the battle is still not over, and following Xerox' statement that the company will file for damages, Palm says it will appeal.
"We assert that the Graffiti handwriting technology does not infringe the Xerox patent and that Palm has strong arguments to support its defense," said Eric Benhamou, chairman and chief executive officer of Palm. "Palm will defend itself vigorously and does not intend for this litigation to affect its business strategy or business model nor that of its licensees."
The battle began as long ago as back in 1997, when Xerox sued U.S. Robotics, later acquired by 3Com, claiming that the handwriting recognition technology marketed as Graffiti and used in Palm handheld devices infringed a Xerox patent received on Jan. 21, 1997. The technology in question, known as Unistrokes, was invented at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center.
The decision by the court ends the liability portion of the case, clearing the way for Xerox to seek damages in the next phase of trial. The trial court will determine the amount of damages for past infringement of the patent and Palm's ability to continue to use the technology, and if the infringement was willful, the court can triple the amount of damages due to Xerox. Both Palm and 3Com are jointly and separately liable.
If Palm has its request for an appeal denied, or loses an appeal case against Xerox, there are three options for the company; license Xerox' Unistrokes technology, find an alternative or stop producing Palms. Palm's actions in this case also have great effect on other Palm OS licensees, which all have standardized on the Graffiti system for handwriting recognition.
"Xerox always aggressively defends its patent portfolio - a valuable corporate asset. Today's ruling vindicates our position that our handwriting-recognition patent was infringed. Either Palm will have to cease production of its handheld organizer or license the technology from Xerox," said Christina Clayton, Xerox general counsel.
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