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Commitments and Contingencies
12 Months Ended
Dec. 28, 2013
Commitments And Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
Commitments and Contingencies
8. Commitments and Contingencies

We lease certain of our facilities and equipment under non-cancelable operating leases. Rental expense was $1.8 million in 2013 and $1.1 million, in both 2012 and 2011. Future minimum lease payments at December 28, 2013 are as follows:

 

(in thousands)

   2014      2015      2016      2017      2018      Thereafter      Total  

Non-cancelable operating leases

   $ 1,114      $ 565      $ 430      $ 377      $ 377      $ 1,508      $ 4,371  

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. On December 2, 2013 the Court granted Delta’s motion to dismiss the case and judgment was entered in favor of Delta and against Essai on February 5, 2014. 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.