PDF   Print   View All
Kopin Hires Yoichi Iba, Inventor of Pupil Optics and Free-Shape Prism

Mr. Iba, formerly with Olympus Corporation, to Focus on Innovative Optics Solutions for AR and VR applications

Kopin® Corporation (NASDAQ:KOPN), a leading developer of innovative wearable computing technologies and solutions, announced that Yoichi Iba, formerly Senior General Manager with Olympus Corporation, has joined Kopin Corporation as Chief Optical System Scientist. Mr. Iba is one of inventors and the team leader of free shape prism and Pupil optics. Mr. Iba will focus on designing innovative optics solutions for wearable headsets including augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) applications.

"We are fortunate to have Yoichi Iba join the Kopin team," said Dr. John C.C. Fan, President and CEO of Kopin Corporation. "We have been cooperating with Mr. Iba and Olympus for many years. Now with Mr. Iba joining Kopin, we expect our relationship with Olympus will be even stronger. With Mr. Iba's help, we expect to expand our lineup of innovative optics solutions, which currently includes our Pupil and Pearl module products."

Mr. Iba is a super creative optics scientist having more than 150 patents granted worldwide. The Japan Patent Agency assessed his patents to have the top rating in impacts to the world. Among Mr. Iba's inventions, the tiny Pupil optics allow see-through and see-around without obstructing the outside view, while providing vivid and bright images, even under full sunlight. Kopin licenses the Pupil optics from Olympus and products are expected to come out this year. He was the product manager of the Olympus Eye-Trek consumer headsets for watching videos. With more than 100,000 units sold in late 1990s, the Eye Trek headset product is still one of the most successful headsets on the market.

"Kopin is well established as the leader in wearable headsets and I am really excited to join Kopin," said Yoichi Iba. "While the wearable headset market follows its aggressive growth trajectory, I will concentrate my efforts to provide the best optics solutions for Kopin's displays that meet market requirements."

About Kopin

Kopin Corporation is a leading developer of innovative wearable computing technologies and solutions. Kopin's technology portfolio includes ultra-small displays, optics, speech enhancement technology, software, low-power ASICs, and ergonomically designed smart headset concept systems. Kopin's proprietary components and technology are protected by more than 250 global patents and patents pending. For more information, please visit Kopin's website at www.kopin.com.

Kopin and CyberDisplay are registered trademarks of Kopin Corporation.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this news release may be considered "forward-looking" statements under the "Safe Harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These include, without limitation, statements relating to the expectation that our relationship with Olympus will be even stronger; our lineup of innovative optics solutions will be expanded;Kopin licenses the Pupil optics from Olympus; and products are expected to come out this year.These statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the following: our relationship with Olympus may terminate; our line-up of innovative optic solutions may not expand; our license with Olympus may terminate, products may not come out this year; wearable eyewear may not be adopted by consumers; the Company's productsmay not be accepted by the market place; there may be issues that prevent further development of the Company's wearable and optical products;manufacturing, marketing or other issues may prevent either the adoption or acceptance of Company's wearable products; and other risk factors and cautionary statements listed in the Company's periodic reports and registration statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the 12 months ended December 28, 2013, and the Company's subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date on which they are made. The Company undertakes no responsibility to update any of these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this report.

Kopin Investor Relations
Richard Sneider, 508-870-5959
CFO
rsneider@kopin.com
or
Kopin Sales & Marketing
Stuart Nixdorff, 508-341-9118
Senior Vice President
stuart_nixdorff@kopin.com
or
Hideki Tomine, 010-81-3-5325-3549
Vice President Display Marketing and General Manager of Kopin Japan
htomine@kopin.com
or
Investor Relations
Market Street Partners
JoAnn Horne, 415-445-3233
JHorne@marketstreetpartners.com

Mar 09, 2015