IMRA America, Inc., the first and leading industrial femtosecond laser supplier, filed a patent infringement lawsuit on May 10 at the District Court of Duesseldorf in  Germany against the German  subsidiaries of Coherent Inc., namely Coherent Kaiserslautern GmbH (formerly Lumera Laser GmbH) and Coherent (Deutschland) GmbH, asserting that certain laser products marketed by Coherent in Germany infringe the German part of the European Patent  0 754 103 B1 "Method for controlling configuration of laser-induced breakdown and ablation". The official docket-no. of this lawsuit before the District Court of Duesseldorf is 4b O 38/13.

The suit involves a patent considered essential for the precise micromachining of most materials used for microelectronics applications with picosecond and femtosecond lasers.  Material examples given in the patent are gold and glass.

The European Patent 0 754 103 B1 was based on an invention  by Professor Gerard Mourou (presently Professor of the Ecole Polytechnique Haut Colle ge) and his colleagues while he was at the University of Michigan. IMRA is the exclusive licensee of this patent for all nonbiological applications.

"We have multiple license agreements with many laser manufacturers," Takashi Omitsu, President of IMRA America remarked.  "We truly try to avoid filing lawsuits. However, we could not come to a reasonable solution with them for both our existing licensees and ourselves. We filed this suit as a last resort."

About IMRA America, Inc.

Founded in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1990, it is dedicated to the development of ultrafast fiber laser technologies for commercial applications. IMRA's technology portfolio includes over 450 US and international patents and patent applications. The company's pioneering technologies, rigorous quality control and high-volume manufacturing operation make IMRA's products the sound choice for scientific, OEM and industrial use. IMRA also continues with cutting-edge research in areas of new functional nano-materials for biomedical and energy applications, keeping IMRA front-and-center  in a broad spectrum of research and development.