Teradyne, ABB Can’t Sway Judge to Nix Northwestern Robot Patents

A Teradyne Inc. unit and ABB Ltd., industrial robot makers, couldn’t convince a federal judge in Delaware that three Northwestern University patents shouldn’t have been issued because they cover obvious inventions.

Judge Maryellen Noreika’s opinion Monday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware detailed a ruling she announced at a March 3 hearing on each manufacturer’s motion to dismiss Northwestern’s case against it.

The asserted patent claims “appear to be directed to an improved intelligent system with a particular modular architecture, not an abstract result or effect that merely invokes generic processes or machinery,” Noreika said.

She ...