VRINGO ANNOUNCES ZTE REQUEST FOR RELEASE OF DETAINED PRODUCTS DENIED BY PRESIDENT OF DISTRICT COURT OF THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS
NEW YORK - October 24, 2014 - Vringo, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRNG) today announced that
the President of the District Court of The Hague in the Netherlands issued its
decision in a request filed by ZTE Corporation, ZTE Deutschland GmbH, and ZTE
Netherlands B.V. (collectively, "ZTE") to release the ZTE UMTS-products that are
being held by Dutch customs officials and to order Vringo to ask the Dutch
customs authorities to stop their actions against ZTE's products based on the
Anti Piracy Regulation of the European Union.
In a ruling, issued today, the President denied ZTE's requests, and upheld the
detention of ZTE's goods as previously ordered by Dutch customs authorities. The
Court found that Vringo's European Patent 1,186,119 ("the '119 Patent"), which a
German court previously held to be infringed by ZTE Corporation and ZTE
Deutschland GmbH, is prima facie valid and infringed by ZTE. The Court also
rejected ZTE's argument that Vringo has violated European competition law by
enforcing the '119 Patent. Â In addition, the Court ordered ZTE to pay Vringo's
legal costs of €200,000.  ZTE may choose to appeal the Court's decision.
The '119 Patent has been previously found infringed by ZTE Corporation and ZTE
Deutschland by a German court (currently under appeal) and found valid in
opposition proceedings before the European Patent Office. The German court has
also rejected ZTE's allegation that Vringo violated competition law by enforcing
the '119 Patent.
ZTE filed this action on July 24, 2014 in the District Court of The Hague
against Vringo Infrastructure, Inc., Vringo's wholly-owned subsidiary, following
the detention of ZTE's UMTS products by Dutch customs authorities on the basis
of the Anti Piracy Regulation and following the institution of a patent
infringement lawsuit against ZTE on May 28, 2014 at the District Court of The
Hague, in which the destruction of the detained goods was requested. On August
19, 2014, Vringo Infrastructure filed another suit at the District Court of The
Hague, which subsumed the May 28, 2014 lawsuit. The August suit accuses ZTE of
infringing the '119 Patent in The Netherlands and other countries in which the
'119 Patent is in force, and seeks injunctive relief for these countries. A
schedule in this matter has not yet been set.
In addition to the Netherlands and Germany, Vringo has also accused ZTE of
infringing the '119 Patent in France, where an oral hearing is scheduled to be
held on December 8, 2014, and the United Kingdom, where the court has not yet
scheduled a trial date on this patent. In Germany, the court is scheduled to
hear Vringo's motion alleging that ZTE Corporation and ZTE Deutschland failed to
comply with the accounting ordered by the court in its decision establishing its
infringement of the '119 Patent, on November 21, 2014.
An English translation of the non-confidential version of today's decision will
be posted to Vringo's website early next week.
About Vringo, Inc.
Vringo, Inc. is engaged in the innovation, development and monetization of
intellectual property and mobile technologies. Vringo's intellectual property
portfolio consists of over 600 patents and patent applications covering telecom
infrastructure, internet search, and mobile technologies. The patents and
patent applications have been developed internally, and acquired from third
parties. For more information, visit:www.vringo.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes forward-looking statements, which may be identified
by words such as "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "estimates," "projects,"
"intends," "should," "seeks," "future," "continue," or the negative of such
terms, or other comparable terminology. Forward-looking statements are
statements that are not historical facts. Such forward-looking statements are
subject to risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ
materially from the forward-looking statements contained herein. Factors that
could cause actual results to differ materially include, but are not limited to:
our inability to license and monetize our patents, including the outcome of the
litigation against online search firms and other companies; our inability to
monetize and recoup our investment with respect to patent assets that we
acquire; our inability to develop and introduce new products and/or develop new
intellectual property; new legislation, regulations or court rulings related to
enforcing patents, that could harm our business and operating results;
unexpected trends in the mobile phone and telecom infrastructure industries; our
inability to raise additional capital to fund our combined operations and
business plan; our inability to maintain the listing of our securities on a
major securities exchange; the potential lack of market acceptance of our
products; potential competition from other providers and products; our inability
to retain key members of our management team; the future success of Infomedia
and our ability to receive value from its stock; and other risks and
uncertainties and other factors discussed from time to time in our filings with
the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including our annual report on
Form 10-K filed with the SEC on March 10, 2014. Vringo expressly disclaims any
obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements contained herein,
whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as
required by law.
Contacts:
Investors and Media:
Cliff Weinstein
Executive Vice President
Vringo, Inc.
646-532-6777
cweinstein@vringoinc.com
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Source: Vringo, Inc. via GlobeNewswire
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