Rodime Plc, the Edinburgh company whose results announcements bear more resemblance to court reports than financial ones, is unsure of which way its current cases against alleged patent infringers will go. Rodime ceased manufacturing more than four years ago, and has since spent its time collecting royalties from its 3.5 disk drive patent. Pre-tax losses for the six months to March 31 were ú2.0m, down from ú5.3m losses last time. Turnover is understandably nil. Current respondents up in front of the judge are Western Digital Corp, Maxtor Corp, Quantum Corp and Seagate Technology Inc. Both Western Digital and Maxtor were sued in order to avoid Rodime’s claims for damages becoming time-barred, and both cases have been stayed pending the outcome of the suits against Quantum and Seagate, said Rodime. The case against Quantum was thrown out by the judge in Minnesota Federal District Court in April 1994 over claims that some aspects of Rodime’s patents were too broad. Rodime’s appeal was heard in November, and the decision is still pending. If the appeal succeeds, Quantum is likely to file another motion for summary dismissal and the process would start again. If it fails, then the case is over and the knock-on effect will be felt in the cases against other disk drive manufacturers. Over in the Los Angeles Federal District Court, things are more protracted still. Seagate has entered a number of summary motions attempting to get the case thrown out. All but one of these Rodime believes are fairly harmless. The exception is one of non-infringement of Rodime’s patent by Seagate’s voice-coil drives. This motion would have a similar effect to the one in the Quantum case, said Rodime. The British company is also complaining that Seagate is stringing out the case by filing more summary motions that the court has agreed to consider. The pre-trial conference is scheduled for July 17. Rodime intends to proceed to trial as soon as possible even if the scope of the trial is reduced. Administrative expenses have dropped by 79% to $1.1m against the same period last time, but these are likely to pick up once the Quantum case is concluded and the Seagate one begins. No dividend will be paid. The company says it has enough working capital now it has extended its revolving credit facility with its bankers.
