Seiko Epson patent confirmed in US

Twenty Seiko Epson patent claims covering the invention of back-surface progressive lenses have been confirmed by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) which also ruled that six additional claims submitted by Seiko were patentable.

This follows the request for a re-examination of patent 6,019,470 by Ocuco on May 21 2013, reported Vision Monday. Seiko Epson’s patent 6,019,470, lodged on February 1 2000, was described as one of the key patents for freeform progressive lens designs and was the basis for royalties charged by Seiko to laboratories producing back-surface progressive lenses.

The Patent Office examiner cited deficiencies in the references submitted by Ocuco, agreeing with Seiko that they failed ‘to disclose or to have rendered obvious providing both a progressive reflective surface and an astigmatism surface on the same side of the lens’.