ELCON's Complaint Dismissed: No Civil Rights for Inventors

BREA, Calif., Nov. 21  /PRNewswire/ -- ELCON, a provider of research and development services for the high-tech industry, today announced that its complaint against Conexant Systems, Inc. (CNXT) and Rockwell Automation, Inc. (ROK) was dismissed in the Orange County Superior Court, California.  The complaint alleged that Conexant, formerly Rockwell Semiconductor Systems, breached its contract with ELCON by failing to pay patent awards and royalties to inventor Frank Sacca, J.D., owner of ELCON.

Dr. Sacca is the primary inventor in a portfolio of key patents on modems and power line technology assigned to Conexant.  Eleven U.S. patents were issued to date.  Some patent applications were filed in more than eighty countries worldwide.  Patents provide competitive edge in technology by excluding others from the market for twenty years.

The suit was filed on April 8, 2004, under case number 04CC04730.  The court refused to compel arbitration, a decision that was affirmed on appeal. The case resumed in March 2006 under Judge Dennis S. Choate.  On August 24, 2006, Judge Choate unexpectedly sustained a demurrer of the entire complaint without leave to amend.

"After prevailing on one appeal and perfecting the complaint, I was very disappointed that this legal action was dismissed essentially in the pleading stage," said Dr. Sacca, who is self-represented in this suit.  "Judge Choate construed the agreement to pay royalties as being at the absolute discretion of the company, whereas the complaint construed the same agreement as being based on the objective value of patents.  Obviously, this agreement was ambiguous.  Therefore, the case should not have been dismissed with a demurrer," noted Dr. Sacca.

"In addition, federal law makes the inventor the original owner of a patent, and the rights to the patent are thereafter assigned to the company in exchange for valuable consideration.  Yet, Conexant and Rockwell failed to provide valuable consideration for these patents, managing to avoid liability with a contractual artifact.  This should not be allowed to happen under the court's watch," continued Dr. Sacca.

"If the inventor is up in court against two multi-billion dollar companies, it is difficult to prevail using traditional principles of contract law, which were not created to protect intellectual property.  Federal law grants original ownership of a patent to the inventor, but there is no law that protects the inventor from misappropriation of intellectual property by unscrupulous companies.  The existing law is by far inadequate," added Dr. Sacca.

"Conexant and Rockwell have entertained a prolonged legal battle against one individual inventor, which fails to serve justice because it is tantamount to manipulating the law.  This corporate culture has no respect for the progress of technology and considers itself not only above the law, but above ethical decency.  Orange County is the heart of the 'silicon valley' of Southern California; nevertheless, the inventor seems to be getting less legal protection than in the Third World ... The court's decision will be appealed," concluded Dr. Sacca.

Inquiries should be directed to Frank Sacca, J.D., Brea, California, at . 

DATASOURCE: ELCON



CONTACT:  Frank Sacca, ELCON, [phone], 



Web site:  http://www.elcontel.com/ 

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