DALTON, Ga., Dec. 23, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- The inaugural meeting of the newly formed Synthetic Turf Council (STC) held the week of December 1st in Orlando, Fla. produced an unexpected result.
During these meetings, FieldTurf CEO, John Gilman and Sprinturf President, Hank Julicher settled their differences, bringing to an end a patent infringement lawsuit filed by FieldTurf against Sprinturf in June 2002.
While the details and the terms have not been disclosed, Gilman praised the STC for its efforts and for the forum which provided an opportunity for the parties to informally discuss pending issues and legal actions.
"Mr. Julicher and I had a chance to review the details of the case," said Gilman. "I am satisfied that Sprinturf's infringement was inadvertent and not intended. Mr. Julicher has assured me that Sprinturf respects all of FieldTurf's patents and intellectual property and that this will not happen in the future. Under these circumstances we are pleased to put this behind us."
In June 2002, FieldTurf Inc. filed a federal lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California against both Sprinturf, Inc. (and its installer, Empire & Associates, Inc.), and, Sportfields, LLC (and its installer, Orion). The law suit was based on, among other things, FieldTurf's assertions that Sprinturf/Empire and Sportfields/Orion "offered to sell" a synthetic turf system to the Folsom County Unified School District -- wherein such an offer was for a product covered by FieldTurf's U.S. patents.
Under U.S. patent law, any party which makes, uses, sells, or "offers to sell" a product covered by a U.S. patent, is liable for patent infringement.
After a significant amount of discovery exchanged between the parties, Gilman determined that Sprinturf's actions were inadvertent and based, in part, on a misunderstanding of the U.S. patent laws as they apply to "offers to sell" a product vs. actually selling the product -- since the finding that an "offer to sell" a product comprises infringement was a relatively recent modification to the U.S. patent infringement statute.
FieldTurf continues to assert its rights against Sportfields, LLC and Orion. FieldTurf will continue to defend its patents and intellectual property vigorously.
FieldTurf is a privately held company that also offers a full range of sports, stadia, golf, landscaping and playground artificial grass solutions.