REF : City Technology Ltd. v. Alphasense Ltd.

Judgement in a patent infringement action between City Technology and Alphasense was handed down on Thursday 26 October 2000 at the High Court in London.

It was held that the claims of CTL's UK Patent No. 2094005 (relating to its toxic gas sensor design) are valid and that the CO-BF sensors and associated designs manufactured by Alphasense infringe this patent.

Alphasense has until 16 November 2000 to cease manufacture and supply of its CO, H2S, and SO2 cells and other cells made to this design. In addition, orders to deliver up all infringing sensors and for payment of costs and damages were also made against Alphasense, with £100,000 being ordered to be paid on account within the next eight weeks. We are concerned that the ban on the manufacture and supply of Alphasense toxic gas sensors may give rise to some disruption to supplies for some Alphasense customers in the short-term, and we would be very willing to assist in overcoming any such difficulties if we can.

We took legal action in this case since it was felt that Alphasense's design was a clear breach of our rights under the Patent. This belief has now been completely vindicated by the High Court's decision. Over many years CTL has funded significant levels of R&D expenditure and we continue to place great emphasis on new product development, with over 8% of sales spent on R&D last year. The protection of this investment and the associated intellectual property portfolio is therefore seen as being of value to both the company and its large number of customers.

City Technology recognises that fair competition in the market place encourages a stable commercial market and ensures that customers benefit from the product development that competition encourages, and we value the challenges that fair competition offers. Thus we will continue to invest and provide our customers with a steady stream of high quality products at competitive prices.

CTL is grateful for the assistance provided by the lawyers from Walker Morris of Leeds led by Patrick Cantrill, the Head of Intellectual Property and from Iain Purvis, Counsel of 11 South Square, Gray's Inn.

If you would like to discuss this further with CTL management, both Kevin Breen (Chief Executive) and Tony Cowburn (Technical Director) should be available by phoning CTL on +44 (0)23 9232 5511 or via e-mail to Kevin.Breen@citytech.co.uk .

30 October, 2000

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