A Board Certified Patent Attorney
Posts Tagged ‘patent infringement’
Croc’s Design Patent To Be Invalidated?
Crocs are a popular beach shoe here in Florida, across the U.S., and outside our nation’s borders. Now, the design patent they hold may be in jeopardy according to a number of recent news stories, including one in the January 4, 2008 edition of Forbes online. Holey Soles Holdings in Vancouver, Canada and Crocs are waging war against each other, since Crocs began in 2005 to try and push Holey Soles out of the market. Most recently, The European Union declared Croc’s patent invalid, claiming that their Beach model shoes "lack individual character" versus other similar brands. (Perhaps in testament to the value of patents Crocs’ stock price dropped $5.00 or 13.2% this past Friday, January 4, 2008.) The two companies make shoes that are very similar to one another; Crocs believes Holey Soles is violating their pa
Patent Protection Provides Long and Short Term Growth Opportunities
Here in Florida, elsewhere in the U.S., and abroad patents give businesses the platform they need for secure, profitable growth. Recently, this was seen clearly in Kansas by MGP Ingredients, which settled a patent infringement suit against Mars, Inc. in the amount of $8MM. MGP holds a patent for ingredients used to make a widely popular dog treat called Greenies. According to CNN Money (January 2, 2008, CNN Money) Mars purchased the company who make Greenies and subsequently tried to end long term supply agreements with MGP, claiming they had "developed a new formula for the dog treats." MGP disagreed and took Mars to court, winning their $8 Million settlement. They’ve agreed to give Mars and the makers of Greenies a non-exclusive license to their patent