FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NATICK, MA, USA September 08, 2009

Cognex Receives Settlement in Patent Dispute

Natick, MA. September 8, 2009--Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ: CGNX) has accepted a settlement offer from Multitest Elektronische Systeme GmbH and its U.S. subsidiary in a dispute concerning Multitest’s importation and sale of equipment containing MVTec HALCON™ machine vision software. Terms of the settlement between the parties were not made public.

Cognex has alleged in complaints filed with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) and in federal court in Massachusetts that HALCON software, marketed by MVTec Software GmbH, infringes at least three Cognex machine vision patents. In addition to Multitest, the ITC is investigating 20 other companies for violating Cognex patents by selling, importing and using MVTec products that contain machine vision technology invented and patented by Cognex.

The current settlement agreement releases Multitest from the ITC investigation. Multitest is not a party to the federal court lawsuit.

"Cognex is pleased with Multitest's decision to resolve this dispute in a rational and business-like way, and we look forward to working with Multitest to integrate Cognex software in its products in the future," said Dr. Robert J. Shillman, Chairman and CEO of Cognex.  "Cognex has invested over $100 million in R&D to develop our leading-edge technology, and on behalf of our shareholders who made that investment, and on behalf of our customers who pay to use our proprietary technology, we will continue to take a very strong stand to protect our patents whenever we discover infringement."

CONTACT:
Robin Pratt
Sr. Manager, Corporate Communications
Cognex Corporation
phone: (858) 350-5065
email: robin.pratt@cognex.com

About Cognex Corporation

Cognex Corporation (“the Company” or “Cognex”) invents and commercializes technologies that address some of the most critical manufacturing and distribution challenges. We are a leading global provider of machine vision products and solutions that improve efficiency and quality in high-growth-potential businesses across attractive industrial end markets. Our solutions blend physical products and software to capture and analyze visual information, allowing for the automation of manufacturing and distribution tasks for customers worldwide. Machine vision products are used to automate the manufacturing or distribution and tracking of discrete items, such as mobile phones, electric vehicle batteries and e-commerce packages, by locating, identifying, inspecting, and measuring them. Machine vision is important for applications in which human vision is inadequate to meet requirements for size, accuracy, or speed, or in instances where substantial cost savings or quality improvements are maintained.

Cognex is the world's leader in the machine vision industry, having shipped more than 4 million image-based products, representing over $10 billion in cumulative revenue, since the company's founding in 1981. Headquartered in Natick, Massachusetts, USA, Cognex has offices and distributors located throughout the Americas, Europe, and Asia. For details, visit Cognex online at www.cognex.com.

Contact:
Nathan McCurren
Head of Investor Relations
Cognex Corporation
ir@cognex.com

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