"Much of the litigation in our society is motivated by greed, but that was not Cognex’s reason for suing Lemelson," Dr. Shillman said. "Cognex has spent millions of dollars on this case, and even though we won, we won’t receive a single cent from Lemelson. We pursued this litigation because we knew that what Lemelson and his Partnership were doing was terribly wrong, and only Cognex had both the technical knowledge and the fortitude to put an end to their campaign of legalized extortion. Our only reward is the knowledge that we did the right thing…we stood up to wrongdoing and we triumphed. Our success in this case is a testament to two of Cognex’s core values: Integrity and Perseverance... we do the right thing, and we don’t quit until the job is finished."

"By determining that the Lemelson patents are invalid and unenforceable, the U.S. District Court has done a great service to the patent process, and it has lifted the hearts of the thousands of true inventors who patent inventions that are then perfected and brought to market for the benefit of both the inventor and society," Dr. Shillman concluded.