January 15, 2002, Kent, Ohio - On December 21, 2001, an 8-person jury in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division, United States Magistrate Judge Jeff Kaplan presiding, unanimously found in favor of Kent Display Systems, Inc. (KDS) , Kent Research Corp. (KRC), and Kent State University (KSU). In an Order dated January 7, 2002, Judge Kaplan wrote:

"….At the conclusion of the trial, the jury found that U.S. Patent No. 5,453,863 (“the West patent”) is valid and enforceable in all respects, that ADS infringed Claims 1-8 and 10 of the West patent both literally and under the doctrine of equivalents, that ADS and Bao Gang Wu…” (both formerly of Amarillo and presently of Dallas, Texas) “…induced infringement, and that the infringing activities of ADS and Wu were willful. The jury awarded damages in the amount of $1.5 million to compensate KDS for such infringement or inducement of infringement."

History
The dispute between Advanced Display Systems, Inc., (ADS) and KDS began in May of 1996 when ADS filed a Complaint in United States District Court, Dallas Division, alleging that the West patent, a KSU patent exclusively licensed to KDS, was invalid and that ADS did not infringe it, after which KDS sued for infringement.

The West Patent teaches how to make a novel liquid crystal display that, among other things, allows the user to place images on a display and for those images to remain on the display after power has been removed. This specialized capability makes the technology extremely valuable in the portable equipment markets where power consumption is critical.

ADS initially prevailed in a 1997 trial, only to have the jury verdict reversed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and a new trial ordered. The new trial began on December 3, 2001 and concluded on the 21st with the jury delivering its verdict in favor of KDS, KRC, and KSU.