On July 21, 2008, the United States District Court, Central District of California, entered an order dismissing with prejudice the claims of patent infringement that Bravo Sports, Inc. had made against NorthPole Limited, NorthPole (US) LLC, and NorthPole (China) Limited. The NorthPole companies make and sell a wide variety of outdoor, leisure and recreational products worldwide.
In this lawsuit, initiated in 2005, Bravo alleged that the NorthPole companies were infringing a Bravo patent by making and selling NorthPole`s line of collapsible outdoor canopies. However, on July 3, 2008, the Court granted NorthPole`s motion for summary judgment of non-infringement. As a result, Bravo Sports agreed to dismiss its case and on July 21, 2008, the Court entered the dismissal order noted above, ending the case.
“We are obviously very happy with the result,” said Steven D. Fleischli, chief executive officer of NorthPole Limited. “We always believed that Bravo`s claims were without any merit and the Court agreed. It was just unfortunate that we were dragged into this by Bravo in the first place.”
NorthPole was represented by Brooks Kushman P.C., a leading intellectual property law firm based in Southfield, Mich.
“This was the correct outcome,” said John Halan, Brooks Kushman`s lead counsel for NorthPole who argued the motion for summary judgment. “In fact, we were so sure of winning summary judgment we advised NorthPole they could fire us if we failed to do so.”
Mark Cantor, John LeRoy, and Brian Tobin of Brooks Kushman were also part of the winning litigation team.
NorthPole is one of the world`s largest manufacturers of camping tents and related outdoor gear including gazebos, sun shelters, sleeping bags, camping chairs and other outdoor furniture and accessories. Established in 1979, NorthPole is a complete service manufacturer with over 2,300 employees worldwide. NorthPole sales headquarters are located near St. Louis and Toronto. Manufacturing headquarters are in Xiamen, China, with five facilities that include textile finishing, metal bending and preparation, cut and sew operations and an extensive quality control testing laboratory. For more information, visit www.northpoleltd.com.
