Document Security Systems (AMEX:DMC) ("DMC"), a leader in proven, patented protection against counterfeiting and unauthorized copying, scanning and photo imaging, announced today that the District Court of the Hague in the Netherlands has rescheduled the release of its decision on the validity in the Netherlands of the Company's European Patent No 0455750B1 (the "Patent").
The judgment, which will be the outcome of a one-day hearing held on December 12, 2007, is now expected to be released by March 12, 2008.
Patrick White, CEO of Document Security Systems, commented, "A postponement is unfortunate but it has no bearing on our pursuit of infringement proceedings in Germany where our patent was ruled valid by the German courts. We will announce the Company's infringement strategy when our German lawyers have completed their review and analysis."
On August 1, 2005, DMC filed a patent infringement suit in the European Court of First Instance ("CFI") against the European Central Bank ("ECB") alleging that the Euro banknotes produced by the ECB infringe DMC's Patent. Subsequently, DMC received notice that the ECB had filed claims to invalidate the Patent with patent courts in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Austria, Italy, Spain, Luxembourg and Belgium. To date, the Patent has been validated in Germany, and the Patent was revoked in the United Kingdom and in France. The CFI ruled on September 5, 2007 that it was not the correct venue for infringement proceedings, which has opened the door for country-by-country infringement litigation.