Columbia Sportswear denies a report that it has prevailed in a dispute against Fibretronic, a company in Hong Kong that it sued last Sept. 16 for damages of $9.4 million in the U.S. Distict Court of Oregon. The case is still pending. The company told the court in its complaint that Fibretronic had agreed to manufacture heating components for the inner wrist cuff of heated jackets that Columbia intended to market and sell worldwide.  It paid $950,000 to Fibretronic between May and September of last year for components that were installed in jackets distributed worldwide. By November 2012, Columbia discovered that the components in some of the jackets were faulty. The wires in the cuffs were not properly aligned, which could result in an electric short, creating a hot spot that melted fabric in the jacket. Eventually, Columbia recalled the jackets and withdrew them from the market.

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