Cogent Systems and Northrop Grumman today announced that they have reached an agreement to settle Cogent's lawsuit against Northrop Grumman regarding Cogent's automated fingerprint identification technology.
Under the terms of the agreement, Northrop Grumman has agreed to pay Cogent $25m to settle the litigation. Northrop Grumman also has agreed to pay Cogent $15m for a non-exclusive license to use specified Cogent automated fingerprint identification software in certain existing programs, including IDENT1.
Northrop Grumman and Cogent also agreed to enter into a five-year research and development, service and products agreement, under which Northrop Grumman will pay Cogent $20m for products and services over the term of the agreement.
Northrop Grumman does not expect the terms of the settlement to have an impact on its guidance for 2007.
Cogent filed the suit in 2005 alleging that Northrop Grumman had misappropriated its proprietary technology and trade secrets for automated fingerprint identification software for use on the IDENT1 contract with the British Police Information Technology Organisation, and its successor the National Policing Improvement Agency.
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