ASTI has announced an out of court settlement in its on-going dispute with Ismeca Semiconductor Holding S.A., Ismeca Malaysia Sdn Bhd and Ismeca Europe Semiconductor S.A. (Ismeca) on 23 July 2010.  The terms of the settlement are confidential.  As a result of the settlement, ASTI is now free to sell its scan pack machines worldwide on their existing designs.

The merits of each party's case is not relevant as its a mutually agreed out of court settlement.  I however, view the dispute settlement positively because the court proceedings were draining management time and also incurring legal costs.   Any costs of expenses associated are ONE off.  We wont know the magnitude because the terms of the settlement are strictly private and confidential but we will be monitoring the Q2-2010 results for any signs of this. 

More importantly, management have indicated that the dispute settlement has actually led to an increase in orders for their scan pack machines on existing designs now that the IP problems have been addressed with Ismeca.  I will wait for our analysts updated report on the stock from this announcement to see if their are any changes in forecasts or his price target.