180s has filed two suits in Marylands Federal court against Starcrest of California, a California-based mail-order company, and Liter Boutique, a local distributor of consumer products, for infringement of one of the many patents for the one-of-a-kind 180s Ear Warmer.
The suits charge Starcrest of California and Liter Boutique with infringement of United States Patent No. 5,835,609 (the 609 patent). The '609 patent was granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to 180s on November 10, 1998. The suit against Starcrest of California also includes claims of trade dress infringement and unfair competition. Each of the suits asks the court for both unspecified damages for the infringing activities and for an injunction to force the parties to cease all future infringing activities.
“We have a strong and valuable intellectual property portfolio around the world that we use with great success to aggressively protect ourselves against copyists,” commented Timothy A. Hodge, Jr., chief legal officer of 180s. “180s has approximately 60 patents and pending patent applications. We plan to file many more patent applications around the world in 2004 to protect our new products as well as our existing ones.”
