Circuits Assembly Online Magazine - Current Issue

News

Binghamton, NY -- A Texas court has entered final judgement in favor of Universal Instruments Corp., a subsidiary of Dover Corp., following a three-week jury trial in Houston. All 17 claims of the asserted software patent were found invalid and not infringed.

According to Universal, the suit, filed in 2002, is one of an increasing number of patent cases brought by companies whose primary business model is licensing and litigation of patent assets—typically, with the assistance of contingency fee lawyers. In this case, the plaintiffs alleged that the GSM Platform for surface mount placement of components on PCBs infringed U.S. Patent 5,283,943. The plaintiffs waived their right to appeal in return for Universal's agreement not to seek costs or attorney fees.

Nuremberg, Germany --Siemens Logistics and Assembly Systems has opened a training facility on the campus of Senai University in Manaus, Brazil. Siemens will conduct SMT technology training for students and customers in the region.

Close cooperation between the university and company will enable research results to directly benefit the development of new Siplace machines. Siemens also equipped the center with a new SMT placement machine.

Siemens also has a training facility on the Senai Campus in Campenas, Brazil, and the same course curriculum will be offered at both locations.

Framingham, MA -- Global ODMs reached a combined $4.37 billion in revenues last year, up 37.9% from 2003, according to a recent report from International Data Corp. (IDC). The top-three ODMs are all Taiwan-based players: Quanta Computer, Compal Electronics and Lite-On Technology.

Quanta led with a 24% share of the market, with Compal garnering a 15% share and Lite-On capturing 12%, said IDC.

Notebooks contributed 48% of ODM revenues, followed by the monitor and display segment with 15%.

For Taiwan-based notebook PC ODMs, 14 to 14.9" notebooks accounted for the largest proportion of shipments last year, according to IDC.