Belmont, Calif., May 12, 2003 - Nikon Corporation of Japan and its wholly-owned subsidiaries located in Belmont, California, Nikon Precision Inc. and Nikon Research Corporation of America announced on 12 May 2003 EDT, that it has filed a Notice of Appeal to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit of the U.S. International Trade Commission (“ITC”) decision against it in the ITC investigation pursuant to Section 337 of the Tariff Act in 1930 based on Nikon’s patent infringement complaint against ASM Lithography Holding, N.V., ASM Lithography B.V., both Dutch corporations, and ASM Lithography, Inc., a U.S. company wholly-owned by ASM Lithography Holding, N.V., (“ASML”). Nikon is confident of ultimately receiving a favorable ruling from the Court of Appeals.

Nikon also continues to pursue patent infringement cases against ASML in the Federal District Court for the Northern District of California, in the Tokyo District Court and in Korea. Nikon intends to vigorously pursue these cases and expects to prevail in them.

As a corporate objective, Nikon is committed to providing the leading products to customers in the semiconductor industry through fair competition in the market place based on the premise that each competitor respects the intellectual property rights of the other competitors. Nikon will continue to pursue this objective, and intends to continue to vigorously protect its intellectual property rights.

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Contacts:
Toshiyuki Masai or Yasuhiro Katagiri
Corporate Communications Department
Nikon Corporation, Tokyo
03-3216-1032

Frank D. Masciocchi
Vice President, Sales and Marketing
Nikon Precision Inc., Belmont, California
(650) 508-4618