Contingencies

9 Months Ended

Sep. 28, 2013

Commitments And Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Contingencies

7. Contingencies

From time-to-time we are involved in various legal proceedings, examinations by various tax authorities and claims that have arisen in the ordinary course of our businesses.

During the period from February through May 2013, Cohu’s subsidiary Delta Design, Inc. (“Delta”) made several inquiries of Essai, Inc. (“Essai”) asking it to confirm that it had not incorporated any of the technology covered by Delta’s patents in its current product offerings. On May 23, 2013 Essai filed a complaint against Delta in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California (the “Court”) seeking a declaratory judgment of non-infringement and invalidity of one Delta U. S. patent that issued in 1998. On July 19, 2013 Delta filed a motion with the Court to dismiss Essai’s complaint and Essai filed its opposition to Delta’s motion to dismiss on August 2, 2013. Delta intends to vigorously defend its intellectual property rights.

The outcome of any litigation is inherently uncertain. While there can be no assurance, we do not believe at the present time that the resolution of the matters described above will have a material adverse effect on our assets, financial position or results of operations.