Zeal Optics, a manufacturer of athletic eyewear and innovator in lens technology, has requested the U.S. Patent Office to reexamine U.S. Patent No. 7,231,038 entitled “Eyeglasses with Wireless Communication Features” and find it invalid. The request was prompted by Oakleys law suit against Zeal Optics that alleges patent infringement by Zeals Bluetooth enabled eyewear.
“We are disappointed in Oakleys attempt to tie up competitors with improper litigation,” said Michael and Wink Jackson, the husband and wife team that co-founded Zeal Optics. “We love what we do. We had no choice but to ask the Patent Office to invalidate Oakleys Bluetooth patent to protect our product and our customers.”
“Oakleys Bluetooth eyewear patent should never have been granted in the first place,” said Gary Hecker of The Hecker Law Group. Hecker is representing Zeal Optics in the lawsuit with Frank Weyer who has litigated against Oakley in the past. “If Oakley wont go away on their own, then we will force them to go away with their Bluetooth patent dead in Zeals wake.”
Oakley, owned by Luxottica Group, bought the “Eyeglasses with Wireless Communication Features” patent from Peter Warren in 2005. Warren was sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2004. The SECs lawsuit claimed Warren defrauded investors out of $12.4 million and falsely claimed to have developed Multilanguage voice activation technology.
Created by former professional mountain bikers and tri-athletes, Co-Founders Michael and Wink Jackson in 1996, Zeal Optics prides itself on providing state-of-the-art designs and a lifetime product warranty to its customers.
