Ocuco disputes lens patent

Software supplier Ocuco had a request for the re-examination of lens firm Seiko’s US patent for freeform granted by the US Patent Office.

Ocuco claimed Seiko Epson’s Patent 6,019,470 for the invention of back-surface progressive lenses had ‘numerous defects’.

Robert Shanbaum, president of Ocuco Inc, said: ‘This is the first hurdle we had to pass in our effort to get Seiko’s patent cancelled.’ He added that re-examinations typically took over 20 months.

‘We do not think that Seiko Epson is entitled to exact a rent from the industry, because their patent does not teach us anything that we did not already know,’ said Shanbaum.