Unterpremstaetten, Austria (June 6, 2011) – austriamicrosystems (SIX: AMS), a leading global designer and manufacturer of high performance analog ICs for the consumer, communications, industrial, medical and automotive markets, has filed the appeal against the first-instance decision by the Federal Patent Court (Bundespatentgericht) in Munich (Germany) at the Federal Supreme Court (Bundesgerichtshof) in Karlsruhe (Germany). Based on the company’s analysis of the first-instance decision in writing which deemed the European Patent EP 0 916 074 B1 covering magnetic field encoder products and exclusively held by austriamicrosystems to be not patentable, austriamicrosystems is highly confident to ultimately prevail in this next and final instance and to have the patent fully validated by the court.

At the same time, austriamicrosystems confirmed that the first-instance verdict in the patent infringement lawsuit against Melexis N.V. / SA (Belgium) and its German subsidiary Melexis GmbH before the District Court (Landgericht) in Duesseldorf (Germany) regarding magnetic field encoder products and European Patent EP 0 916 074 B1 remains valid. austriamicrosystems also confirms that neither the first-instance decision nor filing the appeal has an impact on its current and future business. As the first-instance decision by the Federal Patent Court remains legally non-binding until the appeal has been decided, however, Melexis will continue to carry the risk of financial damages for patent infringement being awarded to austriamicrosystems after positive decision of the appeal.

austriamicrosystems is the worldwide leader in high resolution ICs with magnetic field sensors, offering an extensive range of rotary and linear encoders. Providing robust, contactless position measurement, magnetic field encoders from austriamicrosystems are ideally suited for virtually countless applications in industrial, automotive and consumer electronics.