Early-Stage Patent Litigation: May 14
Posted on Fri, May 14, 2010
Here's our latest close look into a recent patent litigation case centered on patent quality.
Display Technologies Inc. v. Universal Surveillance Corp.
Case number 10-cv-209 - U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island
Display Technologies Inc. has filed suit against Universal Surveillance Corp. for infringement of three patents that relate to electronic article surveillance anti-theft tags.
U.S. Patent Numbers 7,518,521 and 7,626,501 are titled "Anti-theft tag" and "Rotating anti-theft tag" and cover technologies for electronic markers that attach to goods using systems that make them hard to remove. Patent D543,590 is a design patent that for the ornamental design of a rotating anti-theft tag.
According to the complaint, in August 2007, Display Technologies contacted Universal alleging infringement of the ‘590 patent by one of its Swivel Tag products. The complaint also states that Universal subsequently agreed to discontinue the product, but has kept offering it for sale and has also added further infringing merchandise to its line of products.
The suit asks for treble damages, compensatory damages "in an amount no less than a reasonable royalty of defendant's gross sales of all accused products", disgorgement of ill-gotten profits, pre-judgment interest and a permanent injunction against future sales of the products that infringe the patents.