Litigation Update

RNS Number : 2166Z

Nanoco Group PLC

20 May 2021

 

20 May 2021

NANOCO GROUP PLC

("Nanoco", the "Company" or the "Group")

Litigation Update

Nanoco Group plc (LSE: NANO), a world leader in the development and manufacture of cadmium-free quantum dots and other specific nanomaterials emanating from its technology platform, announces an update on its litigation against Samsung for the alleged wilful infringement of the Group's IP.

On 17 February 2020, the Group announced that it had filed a patent infringement lawsuit against various Samsung entities in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas (the 'Court').

As reported previously, Samsung had applied to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (the 'PTAB') requesting the institution of inter partes reviews ('IPRs') of each of the five patents in the case. An IPR is a standard part of IP litigation and examines the validity of the patents themselves. It often runs in parallel with the judicial process.

The PTAB has now announced its decision to institute IPRs over the five patents. The evidential burden required to be passed in order to have an IPR granted is relatively low. For each patent, Samsung needed to show that there was a "reasonable likelihood that [they] would prevail with respect to at least 1 of the claims challenged in the petition.⁽¹⁾" Samsung had submitted a number of grounds to challenge each claim and some of the patents have more than 20 asserted claims.

Where the PTAB finds that the evidential test has been met on at least one ground in one claim in each patent, then all of the claims in the patent in question are subject to the IPR process. This includes claims where the PTAB found that Samsung did not pass the evidential burden. At the end of the IPR process, the PTAB will rule on each individual claim as opposed to any of the patents as a whole.

A trial date for the jury hearing into the alleged wilful infringement of the Group's IP by Samsung has been set for October 2021, though Samsung may now seek (for a second time) to have this delayed until after the IPR process is complete. An IPR process can take 12 months to reach a conclusion and this can be followed by appeals.

Brian Tenner, Chief Executive Officer of Nanoco Group plc, said:

" We are not surprised that the PTAB has decided to implement the IPRs in the five patents and our plans included this eventuality. We note that many of Samsung's individual grounds of challenge were dismissed against a number of the claims asserted by Nanoco.

"Our confidence in the robustness and credibility of Nanoco's patents therefore remains unchanged with respect to the IPR process and the parallel judicial process, with any potential extension to the litigation timeframe underpinned by our third party litigation funding."

(1) 35 US Code 314 (a)

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For further information, please contact:

Nanoco Group PLC :      [phone]

Brian Tenner, CEO

Liam Gray, Company Secretary

Caroline Watson, Investor Relations Manager

[e-mail]

Peel Hunt:                                                                                                                                  [phone]

Edward Knight

Nick Prowting

James Smith

MHP Communications :  [phone]

Reg Hoare

Giles Robinson

Pete Lambie

[e-mail]

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This announcement (including information incorporated by reference in this announcement), and other information published by Nanoco may contain statements about Nanoco that are or may be deemed to be forward looking statements.  Such statements are prospective in nature.  All statements other than historical statements of facts may be forward looking statements.  Without limitation, statements containing the words "targets", "plans", "believes", "expects", "aims", "intends", "will", "may", "anticipates", "estimates", "projects" or "considers" or other similar words may be forward looking statements.

Forward looking statements inherently contain risks and uncertainties as they relate to events or circumstances in the future.  Important factors such as business or economic cycles, the terms and conditions of Nanoco's financing arrangements, tax rates, or increased competition may cause Nanoco's actual financial results, performance or achievements to differ materially from any forward looking statements.  Due to such uncertainties and risks, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof.  Nanoco disclaims any obligation to update any forward looking or other statements contained herein, except as required by applicable law.

Notes for editors:

About Nanoco Group plc

Nanoco (LSE: NANO) harnesses the power of nano-materials. Nano-materials are materials with dimensions typically in the range 1 - 100 nm. Nano-materials have a range of useful properties, including optical and electronic. Quantum dots are a subclass of nano-material that have size-dependent optical and electronic properties. The Group produces quantum dots and other nano-materials. Within the sphere of quantum dots, the Group exploits different characteristics of the quantum dots to target different performance criteria that are attractive to specific markets or end-user applications such as the Display, Sensor and Electronics markets. An interesting property of quantum dots is their absorption spectrum. Nanoco's HEATWAVE™ quantum dots can be tuned to absorb light at different wavelengths across the near-infrared spectrum, rendering them useful for applications including image sensors. Another interesting property of quantum dots is photoluminescence: the emission of longer wavelength light upon excitation by light of a shorter wavelength. The colour of light emitted depends on the particle size. Nanoco's CFQD®quantum dots are free of cadmium and other toxic heavy metals, and can be tuned to emit light at different wavelengths across the visible and infrared spectrum, rendering them useful for a wide range of applications including displays, lighting and biological imaging.

Nanoco was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Manchester, UK, with a US subsidiary, Nanoco Inc., in Concord, MA. Nanoco continues to build out a world-class, patent-protected IP portfolio generated both by its own innovation engine, as well as through acquisition.

Nanoco is listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange and trades under the ticker symbol NANO. For further information please visit: www.nanocotechnologies.com .

 

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