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Contact On
Demand Machine Corporation Press@BookMachine.com ODMC receives
$15 million verdict against March 4, 2004 – St. Louis. On Demand Machine Corporation, a St. Louis based, development stage company, announced today that it has received a patent infringement jury verdict in its favor against Ingram Industries, Inc., Lightning Source, Inc. and Amazon.com in Federal District court in St. Louis. “It has taken a very long time, but we are very gratified by this action,” said Bruce Baebler, president of ODMC. Mr. Baebler continued, “The company has steadfastly maintained since Ingram commenced Lightning Source’s operation in 1998, that they infringed ODMC’s patent and were in need of a license. After all efforts to convince Lightning to take a license failed, we had no choice but to serve the suit to protect our intellectual property. This unanimous verdict by the eight jurors is a validation for our patent, the legal process and ODMC’s pioneering technology.” The patent was invented by Harvey Ross, the founder of ODMC. Mr. Ross started work on his invention in 1990 at the age of 69. His patent was granted in 1995. In 2001, the Patent Office, in an reexamination, confirmed the validity of the claims upon which the suit was based. Mr. Ross died in January 2002, shortly after the lawsuit was filed. Mr. Ross first approached Ingram for participation in his POD book concept in 1993. Two years later, Mr. Ross and Ingram executed a confidentiality agreement and Mr. Ross shared his business plans and pending patent application details with Ingram. In September 1996 Ingram told Mr. Ross they were not interested in participating with Mr. Ross. Ingram announced the formation of Lightning Source in the fall of 1997. Within weeks, Mr. Ross notified Lightning that they needed a license. The lawsuit was filed in October 2001 and went to trial on February 9th. The case went to the jury on the afternoon of March 2, after sixteen days of testimony and proceedings. The jury found that the patent was valid, that the defendants infringed ODMC’s ‘213 patent, and induced others to infringe. The jury awarded ODMC damages of $15,000,000 for past infringement up to the period ending December 2003. The jury also found, by clear and convincing evidence, that Ingram’s, Lightning’s and Amazon’s infringement was willful. The court could increase the damage up to $45,000,000, plus interest and award ODMC its attorney fees. Additionally, ODMC has asked the court to issue an injunction to prevent future infringement. Representing ODMC in the suit were William Cunningham and McPherson Moore of Polster, Lieder, Woodruff & Lucchessi, l.c. and David B. B. Helfrey and Michael Musich of Helfrey, Simon & Jones, p.c. Both firms are based in St. Louis. # # #
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| On Demand Machine Corporation | P.O. Box 220155 | St. Louis, Missouri 63122
info@bookmachine.com |
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