Leggett & Platt Wins Dismissal Of Patent Suit

(Comment on this article at http://www.financialwire.net/2009/11/10/leggett-platt-wins-dismissal-of-patent-suit/)

November 10, 2009 (FinancialWire) -- Leggett & Platt, Inc. (NYSE: LEG) said it has won an agreement to dismissal of a lawsuit by Vutek, Inc. that challenged the validity of two of Leggett & Platt's U.S. patents.

The patents cover Leggett's technology for ultraviolet curing of ink in superwide format ink jet printers. Vutek agreed to withdraw its challenges to the validity of both of the Leggett patents, according to Leggett.

Vutek, a subsidiary of Electronics For Imaging, sued Leggett & Platt in federal court for the Eastern District of Missouri in November 2007, initially alleging invalidity of Leggett's U.S. Patent No. 7,290,874 and later of Leggett's U.S. Patent No. 7,520,602.

The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office issued one of the patents after full review of an earlier appellate court decision declaring a related patent invalid, thus recognizing the importance of Leggett's invention of the first practical 'on the printhead' UV ink curing technology for superwide inkjet printers.

A printing association also recognized Leggett's pioneering technology by awarding an award to Leggett's inventor, Richard Codos.

Carthage, Missouri-based Leggett & Platt designs and produces engineered components and products. The firm is comprised of 19 business units, 19,000 employees, and more than 160 manufacturing facilities located in 18 countries.

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