DuPont settles with Cortron on patent technology

DuPont has reached an agreement with Cortron Corporation to settle a patent infringement case involving DuPont’s Cyrel Fast thermal flexographic printing plate technology.

Under the terms of the agreement, Cortron Corporation, based in Minnesota, has agreed to immediately cease manufacturing LAVA thermal flexographic printing plate processors, as well as to immediately discontinue providing all service, spare parts, and technical support for any LAVA equipment used to thermally develop flexographic printing plates. Thermal processing equipment manufactured by Cortron has been marketed and sold by MacDermid Printing Solutions, LLC under the LAVA trade name.

‘At DuPont, we take the matter of intellectual property and the value of our patents very seriously,’ said Linda West, vice president and general manager, DuPont Imaging Technologies. ‘If we believe our patents are being infringed, we will protect them vigorously. We must protect our investment in Cyrel Fast technology if we are to continue to invest in sustainable innovations for the packaging industry. We are pleased that Cortron promptly agreed to stop manufacturing the current LAVA thermal processing equipment for MacDermid after DuPont notified Cortron that the equipment infringes one of DuPont’s patents.’

In May 2008, DuPont won an appeal before the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in a patent infringement lawsuit against MacDermid Printing Solutions, LLC. The appeals court upheld the lower court’s determination ‘that MacDermid did not dispute infringement’ of DuPont’s patent covering thermally developed flexographic printing plates. It further noted that ‘the lower court correctly ruled that DuPont had shown a reasonable likelihood that MacDermid infringes one of DuPont’s patents.’ The ruling advanced DuPont’s efforts to enforce its patents, protecting its Cyrel FAST thermal flexographic technology.