Rockwell Settles Suit With JDS Uniphase

A unit of Rockwell International Corp., the largest maker of factory automation equipment, settled a lawsuit with rival JDS Uniphase Corp. about a patent for coating computer chips.

Rockwell, owner of a 1983 U.S. patent for a method of depositing a thin film on microchips using a vaporization process, accused JDS in federal court in Delaware last year of wrongly using the invention to make chip wafers.

In court papers made public this week, lawyers for Milwaukee-based Rockwell and San Jose-based JDS, which makes fiber-optic components, said they reached a settlement and U.S. District Judge Gregory Sleet dismissed the case.

“We have a gentleman’s agreement” to not comment on the settlement publicly, said Donald McGrath, a Rockwell spokesman.

JDS officials couldn’t immediately be reached to comment. Robert Bourque, a lawyer representing JDS, said terms of the settlement are confidential.

JDS shares rose 43 cents to close at $8.42 on Nasdaq, and Rockwell shares rose 13 cents to $13.91 on the New York Stock Exchange.