SCM rejects Homag patent infringement claims

SCM Group has rejected Homag patent infringement claims concerning machine safety scanning technology.

The Italian manufacturer of woodworking machinery said it has now undertaken actions “to prove the nullity” of the disputed patent.

Homag obtained an interim court injunction during the recent Ligna show for an alleged patent infringement of its safeScan technology on SCM’s machines on display at the exhibition, resulting in SCM’s scanning equipment being removed.

A statement released by SCM said its safety scanning technology, demonstrated on the Morbidelli Author m800, Accord 30FX and Accord 40FXmachines at Ligna, did not differ from many applications in use on machinery since the end of the 1990s.

It also claims that Homag’s patent is only valid in Germany and that its own safety scanning solution is different from that of Homag’s.

SCM said it was not given the opportunity to present its defence when Homag secured a court injunction at the regional court of Hamburg during Ligna.

SCM said it was unusual for a patent infringement injunction to be granted covering a whole machine when the dispute centred on a device on the machine. It said its protestations had resulted in a temporary agreement at Ligna in which it removed the scanning devices so the machines could be exhibited.

“Patent issues are a particularly delicate matter and, under normal industrial relations, in similar cases, the first action calls for a discussion amongst engineers,” SCM said.

“There would have been time to deal with the details of the patent in a constructive manner.”

SCM said it had already presented the technology in question at last year’s Technodomus exhibition in Italy.