The Court of Appeal clears Atlas Copco in patent dispute

Stockholm, Sweden, October 28, 2005: Today, the Court of Appeal in Stockholm announced its ruling in the patent dispute between Atlas Copco Rock Drills AB and Sandvik Tamrock Corp., concluding that Atlas Copco has not infringed the patents.

“It is positive that the Court of Appeal has confirmed that we have not made patent infringements,” says Hans Sandberg, Senior Vice President, General Counsel, Atlas Copco AB. Atlas Copco and Sandvik are major competitors and world leaders with their respective ranges of mining equipment. In April 2001, Sandvik filed a complaint based on two alleged patent infringements. One is related to a method of guiding the drilling process, which the Court of Appeal declared invalid. The other concerns how the handling of electronic memories is carried out in modern drill rigs.