WEST CHESTER, Ohio,
Dec. 3, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- AK Steel Corporation
(NYSE:AKS) said today that the United
States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has issued a
decision confirming that AK Steel has prevailed on a key claim in a
patent infringement lawsuit brought against the company by two
French units of ArcelorMittal. The suit, which was tried in
the U.S. District Court in Delaware, alleged that AK Steel and two other
steel producers have infringed upon a U.S. patent for
aluminum-coated, boron-bearing carbon steel, used primarily for
high-strength automotive applications.
On January 14, 2011, a jury found
that AK Steel did not infringe the ArcelorMittal patent and
that the patent was invalid. In its decision, the Court of
Appeals affirmed a basis for the jury finding of no infringement,
but reversed certain findings related to the validity of the patent
and remanded the case for further proceedings. Those
proceedings include a new trial with respect to AK Steel's claims
that the patent is also invalid.
AK Steel said that, regardless of the outcome of the new trial
on the validity of the patent, the Court of Appeals decision will
allow the company to continue to offer the product for sale to
customers in the United
States.
AK Steel
AK Steel produces flat-rolled carbon,
stainless and electrical steels, primarily for automotive,
infrastructure and manufacturing, construction and electrical power
generation and distribution markets. The company employs
about 6,200 men and women in Middletown, Mansfield, Coshocton and Zanesville, Ohio; Butler, Pennsylvania; Ashland, Kentucky; Rockport, Indiana; and its corporate
headquarters in West Chester,
Ohio. Additional information about AK Steel is available on
the company's web site at www.aksteel.com.
AK Tube LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of AK Steel, employs
about 300 men and women in plants in Walbridge, Ohio and Columbus, Indiana.
AK Tube produces carbon and stainless electric resistance welded
(ERW) tubular steel products for truck, automotive and other
markets. Additional information about AK Tube LLC is
available on its web site at www.aktube.com.
AK Coal Resources, Inc., another wholly-owned subsidiary of AK
Steel, controls and is developing metallurgical coal reserves in
Somerset County,
Pennsylvania. AK Steel also owns 49.9% of Magnetation LLC, a
joint venture headquartered in Grand
Rapids, Minnesota, which produces iron ore concentrate from
previously mined ore reserves.
SOURCE AK Steel Corporation