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EXHIBIT 5
[LETTERHEAD OF GRAY CARY WARE & FREIDENRICH LLP]
400 Hamilton Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94301-1825
Phone: 650-328-6561 Fax: 650-327-3699 www.graycary.com
December 15, 2000
Securities and Exchange Commission
450 Fifth Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20549
Ladies and Gentlemen:
As legal counsel for Finisar Corporation, a Delaware corporation (the
"Company"), we are rendering this opinion in connection with the registration
under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, of up to 947,990 shares of the
Common Stock, $0.001 par value, of the Company which may be issued pursuant to
the exercise of options granted under the Sensors Unlimited, Inc. Second Amended
and Restated 1997 Stock Option Plan and the Demeter Technologies, Inc. 2000
Stock Option Plan (the "Plans") which have been assumed by the Company.
We have examined all instruments, documents and records which we deemed relevant
and necessary for the basis of our opinion hereinafter expressed. In such
examination, we have assumed the genuineness of all signatures and the
authenticity of all documents submitted to us as originals and the conformity to
the originals of all documents submitted to us as copies. We are admitted to
practice only in the State of California and we express no opinion concerning
any law other than the law of the State of California, the corporation laws of
the State of Delaware and the federal law of the United States. As to matters of
Delaware corporation law, we have based our opinion solely upon our examination
of such laws and the rules and regulations of the authorities administering such
laws, all as reported in standard, unofficial compilations. We have not obtained
opinions of counsel licensed to practice in jurisdictions other than the State
of California.
Based on such examination, we are of the opinion that the 947,990 shares of
Common Stock which may be issued pursuant to the exercise of options granted
under the Plans are duly authorized shares of the Company's Common Stock,
and, when issued against receipt of the consideration therefor in accordance
with the provisions of the Plans and the agreements evidencing such options,
will be validly issued, fully paid and nonassessable. We hereby consent to
the filing of this opinion as an exhibit to the Registration Statement
referred to above and the use of our name wherever it appears in said
Registration Statement.
Respectfully submitted,
GRAY CARY WARE & FREIDENRICH LLP
