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Sandel Prevails In Sixth Patent Infringement Defense Against Honeywell

Wilmington, DE (December 8, 2004)-Sandel Avionics of Vista, CA, prevailed again, this time in a jury verdict, in its defense against yet another Honeywell patent infringement lawsuit, as the larger company continued its efforts to halt the success of the popular Sandel ST3400 TAWS/RMI system. The latest Honeywell patent in question, filed in 1987, was entitled "GPWS without Landing Flaps Input." Honeywell had attempted to add this patent to a prior case in 2003 where it sued Sandel-and lost-for infringing on five other patents concerning EGPWS. Sandel prevailed in the prior case with five summary judgments by the Delaware court.

This sixth patent issue was instead tried in Delaware this month, with the jury taking less than two hours to reach the 'not guilty' verdict in Sandel's favor. Ironically, Sandel's ST3400 TAWS does in fact use landing flaps input.

"We are pleased with the outcome of the trail and believe that this is a victory not only for Sandel but aircraft owners and operators who need access to scalable safety solutions," said Gerald Block, president and founder of Sandel Avionics. "This victory comes at a good time, and with the mandate date fast approaching and sales of the ST3400 soaring, we're going full speed ahead," remarked Block.

A 3-ATI sized unit that incorporates a TAWS computer and a full-color display, the ST3400 meets TSO C151b for both Class A and Class B requirements. The ST3400 serves as a drop-in replacement for conventional RMI units, displaying terrain maps, topographic maps, navigation waypoint maps and TCAS data. The base ST3400 has a list price of $34,500 in Class A configuration and $20,950 in Class B configuration.