From AFX News Limited
POMONA, CA — Keystone Automotive Industries Inc., which distributes parts to collision repair shops, said Thursday it plans to contest parts of a preliminary ruling in a patent violation suit filed against the company by Ford Global Technologies LLC.
The ruling, issued Monday by an administrative law judge of the U.S. International Trade Commission, said that seven of ten design patents related to the Ford F-150 truck were enforceable and infringed Ford’s design patents.
But the judge ruled that the other three patents are invalid because of Ford’s prior public use of the designs.
Shares of Keystone fell on the news, tumbling $5.98, or 15.4 percent, to $32.78 in morning trading on the Nasdaq. The stock has traded between $28.88 and $46.92 over the past year.
Keystone had claimed that Ford’s prior public use also rendered the other seven patents invalid and unenforceable, and that even if valid, none of the ten patents is infringed.
Ford initially charged that Keystone and the other respondents infringed 14 design patents directed to various exterior parts of Ford’s 2004/2005 F-150 truck, but dropped four design patents before the trial commenced.
The ruling will be reviewed by the International Trade Commission, which must issue its ruling on or before March 5.
Keystone said it and the other respondents in the case will file a petition asking the commission to review and reverse other portions of the initial determination, as well as earlier rulings by the administrative law judge.
The commission has 45 days to decide whether or not it will grant a petition for review.
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