Skechers USA, Inc. announced that it scored a major victory in a patent lawsuit filed against it in the United States District Court for the Central District of California. The lawsuit, Cancaribe Limited v. Cobra International Inc., Case No, 07-CV-4182-GAF, involved allegations by defendant and cross-claimant Cobra International, Inc. alleging that the circuit used in Skechers lighted footwear infringed Cobra’s patent on sequential lighting.
On June 6, 2012, Cobra and Skechers entered into a settlement agreement. Cobra agreed to dismiss its lawsuit against Skechers with prejudice and release all claims against Skechers. Skechers did not pay any money and is free to continue using its lighted footwear technology without modification and without any payment or obligations to Cobra.
The case settled after Skechers filed a summary judgment motion to invalidate Cobra’s patent. The terms of the settlement amounts to a complete victory for Skechers. The settlement agreement is publicly available on the Court’s database.
Skechers was represented in this case by Morgan Chu, Gary Frischling, Chris Vanderlaan, and Anthony Falcone of Irell & Manella in Los Angeles.
“We believe this settlement is a total victory for Skechers,” stated Philip G. Paccione, General Counsel of Skechers USA, Inc. “We have maintained that this lawsuit was frivolous since it was filed in 2007. Our message is clear: if someone asserts an overbroad and questionable patent against Skechers, they will not only lose their case but possibly their patent as well.”
Paccione continued, “We also believe that, had the Court issued a ruling invalidating Cobra’s patent, we would have been entitled to recover attorneys’ fees from Cobra and sanctions against counsel for failure to conduct an adequate pre-filing investigation of the claims asserted against Skechers. Nonetheless, after five years of litigation, we thought it was an opportune time to avoid the cost and distraction of further litigation and of defending a possible appeal.”
In an earlier development relating to this case, Skechers initiated reexamination proceedings before the United States Patent and Trademark Office, which resulted in the Patent and Trademark Office issuing a Final Office Action finding the patent invalid in September 2009. The patent was allowed only after Cobra made amendments to certain claims.
