Veeco and Asylum announce settlement.

Plainview, NY 8/11/08; Santa Barbara, CA 8/11/08 -- Veeco Instruments and Asylum Research have settled their patent litigation (see IBO 7/15/08). In 2003, Veeco filed suit against Asylum claiming infringement of a patent related to atomic force microscopy. The companies agreed to drop all claims against each other and entered into a five-year worldwide cross- licensing agreement and a mutual covenant not to sue on patents that either party has a right to assert. Asylum will make a net payment to Veeco and pay ongoing royalties for the five-year term. Asylum also acknowledged the validity of Veeco's patents asserted in the case. Other terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

Court documents indicate that the companies reached a tentative settlement on August 5, the date the jury trial was scheduled to begin. The dispute also extended to Europe, where Asylum was appealing a 2007 decision by the European Patent Office's Opposition Division that affirmed the validity of Veeco's Patent No. 839,312, which was also in dispute in the US case. Asylum was founded by former employees of Veeco.