OAKDALE, Minn., Aug. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Imation Corp. today announced that it has filed a Declaratory Judgment Action in the Federal District Court in St. Paul, Minn., requesting that the court resolve an ongoing dispute with Philips Electronics N.V., U.S. Philips Corporation, and North American Philips Corporation. The action requests that the court reaffirm Imation's cross-licensing rights related to various optical products, including recordable and rewritable CD and DVD discs, based on a long-standing agreement between Imation and Philips.
Imation filed a similar action on October 27, 2006. Imation and Philips then entered into negotiations to resolve the dispute, and Imation withdrew its filing without prejudice while those discussions continued. However, as those negotiations were unsuccessful, Imation is re-filing its case today.
Imation's cross-licensing agreement with Philips allows Imation to manufacture, have others manufacture for Imation ("have made" rights), and sell various optical media products including CD and DVD discs. Based on Imation's cross-licensing rights under the existing agreement, Imation's action asks the court to stop Philips' continued attempts to interfere with Imation's ongoing business relationships with its customers and suppliers.
"Imation's technology leadership in optical storage goes back decades, and our customers worldwide rely on Imation to supply them with top-quality CDs and DVDs. There will be absolutely no disruption to this supply," said Frank Russomanno, President and CEO, Imation. "We are disappointed that Philips continues to attempt to interfere with Imation's optical partners despite the existing and long-standing cross-license agreement and despite our ongoing discussions with Philips. As a technology leader with a broad portfolio of intellectual property, and one of the innovators that helped develop a roadmap to the optical storage formats in use today by hundreds of millions of consumers, Imation vigorously supports the valid enforcement of licensing and IP rights. We simply want Philips to abide by their agreement with us."
The Imation complaint seeks a Declaratory Judgment recognizing: the existence of the Imation-Philips patent cross-license; that the cross-license applies to Imation's subsidiaries, including Global Data Media; and that the cross-license covers a variety of optical products irrespective of brand, including CD and DVD discs.
About Imation Corp.
Imation Corp. is the only company in the world focused on the development, manufacture and supply of removable data storage products spanning the four pillars of magnetic, optical, flash and removable hard disk storage. With more than 50 years of data storage leadership beginning with the development of the world's first computer tape, Imation proudly marked its tenth anniversary as an independent company in 2006. In addition to the Imation brand, Imation Corp.'s global brand portfolio includes the Memorex brand, one of the most widely recognized names in the consumer electronics industry, famous for the slogan, "Is it live or is it Memorex?" Imation is also the exclusive licensee of the TDK Life on Record brand, one of the world's leading recording media brands. Additional information about Imation is available at http://www.imation.com/ or by calling 1-888-466-3456.
Risk and Uncertainties
Certain information contained in this press release which does not relate to historical financial information may be deemed to constitute forward- looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results in the future to differ materially from our historical results and those presently anticipated or projected. We wish to caution investors not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which such statements are made, and we undertake no obligation to update such statements to reflect events or circumstances arising after such date. Risk factors include our ability to successfully integrate and achieve the anticipated benefits of the TDK Recording Media business acquisition as well as the Memcorp acquisition, including synergies, in a timely manner; our ability to successfully implement our global manufacturing strategy for magnetic data storage products and changes to our R&D organization and to realize the benefits expected from the related restructuring actions; our ability to operate the Memorex product lines as an integrated entity; our ability to successfully defend our intellectual property, including the Memorex brand and patent licenses and the Philips patent cross license; continuing uncertainty in global economic conditions that make it particularly difficult to predict product demand; our ability to meet our cost reduction and revenue growth targets; our ability to introduce new offerings in a timely manner either independently or in association with OEMs or other third parties; our ability to achieve the expected benefits from the Moser Baer and other strategic relationships and distribution agreements such as the GDM joint venture and Tandberg relationships; the competitive pricing environment including its possible impact on inventory valuations; foreign currency fluctuations; the outcome of any pending or future litigation; our ability to secure adequate supply of certain high demand products; the ready availability and price of energy; availability of key raw materials or critical components; the market acceptance of newly introduced product and service offerings; the rate of decline for certain existing products; as well as various factors set forth from time to time in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Imation, the Imation logo, Memorex, and "Is it live or is it Memorex?" are trademarks of Imation Corp. and its subsidiaries. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.
