ASM settles patent litigation

The settlement resolves and ends all lawsuits and invalidation proceedings initiated by ASM and Kokusai Electric’s predecessor Hitachi Kokusai Electric Inc. in the US and Japan. These lawsuits concerned the use of intellectual property, as first announced on February 23, 2018, following the expiration of a license agreement. Under the terms of the settlement agreement Kokusai Electric will pay ASM an amount of USD 115 million, parties will provide each other a portfolio wide cross-license until July 1, 2021, and a license for any litigated patents (or counterparts thereof). “We are pleased to have settled these lawsuits with Kokusai Electric,” says Chuck del Prado, President and CEO of ASMI, in a press release. “We believe this settlement further underscores the strength of our intellectual property portfolio.” This settlement is unrelated to the previously announced arbitration proceeding that ASM initiated in August 2017 with the American Arbitration Association against Kokusai Electric for breach of the license agreement that expired in November 2017. A final decision in the arbitration is expected in the course of the coming months. The settlement agreement was not included in our Q2 2019 guidance as published on April 24, 2019, and will positively impact ASMI’s sales and bookings in Q2 2019 with an amount of approximately USD 115 million, or approximately EUR 103 million.