Patent infringement battle heats up.(Brief Article)

SAN JOSE, CA--In response to Photonetics Inc.'s (Peabody, MA) and Photonetics SAS's (Marly-Le-Roi, France) lawsuit alleging infringement of their patented tunable laser technology in late July, New Focus Inc. has now filed counterclaims. In the counterclaims filed on Sept. 10, 2001 in US District Court in Wilmington, DE, New Focus charges that Photonetics has infringed two of its patents covering proprietary external-cavity laser technology (US Patent No. 5,319,668 and 5,995,521).

"New Focus has an extensive history of technical innovation in tunable external-cavity lasers that began in the early 1990s, and we actively protect our technical innovations through patents …