United States Patent & Trademark Office Rejects Hexagon Patent Claims
According to an article in Antara news, the United States Patent & Trademark Office has rejected key claims in the Hexagon ‘148 patent. The rejection was made during a Reexamination Proceeding that was originally initiated by FARO Technologies, Inc. Included in the rejected claims are all the claims involved in the ongoing Hexagon ‘148 patent infringement case filed by Romer-CimCore, a subsidiary of Hexagon, AB, and also FARO’s largest competitor.
If this rejection of claims is finalized, the patent claims asserted against the Company in the Hexagon litigation will be invalidated, and FARO will prevail in its litigation.
The Hexagon ‘148 patent claims encompass a four-jointed arm construction with a mechanically unlimited rotation of certain joints. In its rejection, The United States Patent & Trademark Office has determined that this feature was already found in a number of prior patents and so determined that the ‘148 claims were "obvious" in view of this prior art. Hexagon will be entitled to respond and appeal the claim rejections.