-Gamagori, JAPAN, September 25, 2002-

NIDEK Co., Ltd. announced today that a federal jury in Boston rendered a verdict that NIDEK infringed Summit/Alcon's U.S. Patent Nos. 4,973,330 and 4,941,093. Earlier in the trial, the Court granted a judgment of non-infringement of certain claims of the '093 patent.

NIDEK believes that the jury verdict of infringement is not supported by the evidence and will pursue every avenue to overturn the verdict. This initial decision has no impact on NIDEK's continued sale of its excimer laser products in the U.S. market.

"We are disappointed with this jury's decision as we are confident that we do not infringe on Summit Technologies' patents," stated Hideo Ozawa, President of NIDEK Co., Ltd. "We have a strong intellectual property portfolio of our own and we will continue to protect it as we have in the past and leverage it to develop new applications and technologies in the field of vision care," added Mr. Ozawa.

"We have always faced an uphill battle in our product launches and sales around the world for over 30 years, and have succeeded in global markets. We are committed to our customers worldwide," added Mr. Ozawa.

Contact:
Ms. Hiromi Kitagawa
Public Relations, Planning Dept.
Phone: +81-533-67-6753
Fax: +81-533-67-6610
Email: info@nidek.co.jp