Nanoco Shares Fall After Samsung Gets Patent Review Amid Dispute

By Adria Calatayud

Shares in Nanoco Group PLC fell Thursday after the company said that the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board has instituted reviews of five of the company's patents which are the object of a dispute with Samsung Electronics Co.

Nanoco, a U.K. nanomaterials group which in February filed a patent-infringement lawsuit against various Samsung entities, said Samsung had applied to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board requesting the institution of "inter partes reviews" of each of the five patents in the case to examine the validity of the patents.

Nanoco said the trial date for a jury hearing into the patent-infringement case has been set for October, but that Samsung may now seek to have this delayed until after the review process is complete. This can take 12 months, excluding any potential appeals, the company said.

Samsung didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

"Our confidence in the robustness and credibility of Nanoco's patents therefore remains unchanged with respect to the IPR process and the parallel judicial process, with any potential extension to the litigation timeframe underpinned by our third party litigation funding," Nanoco Chief Executive Brian Tenner said.

Shares at 0754 GMT were down 7.6% at 22.50 pence, having earlier fallen to a low of 21.50 pence.

Write to Adria Calatayud at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 20, 2021 04:17 ET (08:17 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.