OFS Sues Sterlite

ATLANTA -- Fitel USA Corp., the parent company of OFS, designer, manufacturer, and supplier of leading edge fiber optic products, today announced that it has filed suit against Sterlite Optical Technologies, Inc., which has its headquarters in Norcross, Georgia, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. The suit charges infringement of patents covering a number of optical fiber technologies, including technologies that are fundamental to manufacturing optical fiber that exhibits low levels of polarization mode dispersion. The lawsuit seeks an injunction barring further use of the patented technologies, as well as damages for past infringement. OFS President and CEO Eddie Edwards commented that "We attempted to discuss these issues with Sterlite before filing suit, but they have not been willing to engage in a dialogue in a manner that we consider to be satisfactory. The initial patents that we are asserting against Sterlite are the same patents that are the subject of our lawsuit against FiberCore, Inc. (Nasdaq: FBCE - News). We believe that many optical fiber and fiber optic cable manufacturers are infringing these patents by manufacturing and selling optical fiber using these fundamental patented technologies, and that their customers could be infringing these patents by using infringing fibers and cables." OFS