After a 15-month legal dispute in a German court, Koroyd released a statement on Oct. 27 regarding its victory in the Düsseldorf district court in its patent infringement case against Burton. The first-instance ruling concludes that Burton infringed patent EP 1 694 152 in Germany by manufacturing and selling Anon brand WaveCel® snow helmets that imitate Koroyd’s patented technology. Burton now has the right to appeal the decision of the Düsseldorf regional court and has filed an invalidity action against the patent, which has not yet been decided.
A similar patent infringement lawsuit against Burton, filed jointly by Koroyd and Smith Sport Optics, remains active and is ongoing in the U.S. district court for the district of Colorado. It concerns Burton’s infringement of U.S. Joint Patent No. 10,736,373 based on the sale and importation of Anon brand snow helmets incorporating WaveCel® technology in the U.S. To date, Burton has not been successful in challenging the validity of the patent in an inter partes review proceeding before the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board, which recently rejected Burton’s grounds for invalidity as without merit. In light of this decision, the district court recently reinstated the infringement proceeding, and Koroyd and Smith are now seeking to enforce their patent rights.
