ROMANIAN COURT UPHOLDS PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION AGAINST ZTE ROMANIA IN VIEW OF ECJ HUAWEI V. ZTE DECISION
NEW YORK - October 29, 2015- Vringo, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRNG), a company engaged in the innovation, development and monetization of intellectual property as well as the commercialization and distribution of wire-free charging and rugged computing devices, today announced that a Romanian appellate court has denied ZTE Romania's twelfth attempt to overturn or suspend Vringo's preliminary injunction against ZTE Romania.
On August 6, 2015, ZTE Romania filed a motion seeking for the Bucharest Tribunal, 5th Civil Section to set aside Vringo's preliminary injunction in light of the July 16, 2015 European Court of Justice ruling in Huawei v. ZTE. The Huawei v. ZTE case outlined the factors to consider in determining whether the holder of a standard-essential patent abuses its dominant position in seeking injunctive relief against an alleged infringer. On August 31, 2015, the Bucharest Tribunal rejected all of ZTE Romania's arguments and denied ZTE Romania's request as ungrounded. ZTE Romania appealed the Bucharest Tribunal's decision and, yesterday, the Bucharest Court of Appeal denied ZTE Romania's appeal as ungrounded, with no further chance of appeal.
"ZTE Romania has exhausted all reasonable bases for challenging the preliminary injunction," said Dragos Vilau, of Vilau Associates, Vringo's Romanian counsel. "Romanian courts have rejected each of ZTE Romania's attempts to circumvent the court order against it which has been in place for well over one year and have once again confirmed that the Romanian legal system provides effective tools for patent holders in protecting and enforcing their rights" Mr. Vilau continued.
On June 30, 2014, the Bucharest Tribunal granted Vringo's request for an ex-parte preliminary injunction against ZTE Romania and others, ordering ZTE Romania to cease any importation, exportation, introduction on the market, offer for sale, storage, sale, trade, distribution, promotion, or any other business activity regarding allegedly infringing equipment.
Since then, ZTE Romania has attempted, unsuccessfully, to have the preliminary injunction overturned or suspended twelve separate times. ZTE Romania has done so by petitioning four separate courts, utilizing-and exhausting-a wide variety of procedural mechanisms, and re-litigating the same issues.
In each instance, the relevant court has rejected ZTE Romania's attempt.
"ZTE's gamesmanship in litigations throughout the world highlights its refusal to engage in negotiations to license Vringo's standard essential patent portfolio on FRAND terms," said David Cohen, Vringo's Chief Legal and Intellectual Property Officer. "Judges in Romania, Brazil, the United States, and other countries continue to take notice of ZTE's bad faith litigation tactics and failure to negotiate a FRAND license with Vringo," Mr. Cohen said. "Further, yesterday's ruling by the Bucharest Court of Appeal highlights the fact that Vringo continues to comply with international standards on the licensing of standard-essential patents, as most recently outlined by the European Court of Justice in its Huawei v. ZTE decision," Mr. Cohen continued.
Vringo's lawsuit seeking to recover its attorneys' fees for ZTE Romania's failed attempts to overturn the preliminary injunction remains pending.
About Vringo, Inc.
Vringo, Inc. is engaged in the innovation, development and monetization of intellectual property as well as the commercialization and distribution of wire-free charging and rugged computing devices. Vringo's intellectual property portfolio consists of over 600 patents and patent applications covering telecom infrastructure, internet search, ad-insertion, mobile and wire-free charging technologies. Vringo's subsidiary fliCharge is dedicated to the licensing and commercialization of wire-free charging technologies. Vringo's subsidiary Group Mobile is dedicated to the marketing and sale of rugged computing devices. 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 ZTE and other companies; our inability to recognize the anticipated benefits of the acquisition of IDG, which may be affected by, among other things, competition, our ability to secure advantageous licensing and sales agreements, market acceptance of IDG's technology, potential technology obsolescence, protection of intellectual property rights and potential liability risks that are inherent in the marketing and sale of products used by consumers; 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; our inability to protect our intellectual property rights; 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; our ability to continue as a going concern; our liquidity 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 16, 2015. 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