The Norit Americas unit of Nuon NV,
a Netherlands-based utility company, has accepted a $40.5
million settlement offer from Littleton, ADA-ES Inc. (ADES), according
to a company statement.
The settlement follows a decision by a three-person
independent arbitration panel that found Colorado-based ADA and
two former Norit employees had misappropriated trade secrets and
violated a contract.
Norit filed a trade secrets case in Texas state court in
August 2008. In that suit, Norit, one of the world’s largest
manufacturers of activated-carbon products used to control
pollution, says ADA-ES persuaded John Rectenwald and Stephen D.
Young to violate the confidentiality agreements they signed, and
to reveal such proprietary information as the best locations to
build activated-carbon production plants.
Both Young and Rectenwald had signed agreements with Norit
requiring them to keep the company’s proprietary information in
confidence for 10 years, Norit said. Both were “deeply involved
in the invention and implementation of Norit’s proprietary
production techniques, production facilities and products and
had access to Norit’s trade secrets,” according to court
papers.
Norit asked the court to order ADA-ES to quit using the
proprietary information it acquired through Rectenwald and
Young, and to bar the company from pursuing patents on that
technology. It also sought a ban on the sale of products derived
from its trade secrets.
In addition to the cash settlement, ADA and other
defendants are required to maintain the confidentiality of
Norit’s trade secrets, and to pay royalties on all activated
carbon sales for the next eight years that uses those secrets.
The case is Norit Americas Inc. v. ADA-ES Inc, 08-0673,
District Court of Harrison County, Texas.
Two Ex-Wkyo Engineers Sentenced for Goodyear Trade Secret Theft
Two former engineers with the U.S. unit of Wyko Tire
Technology Ltd., convicted of stealing trade secrets from
Goodyear Tire Rubber Co. (GT) for a Chinese tire company, were
sentenced to probation by a federal court in Tennessee.
Clark A. Roberts and Sean E. Howley were convicted in
December of trade-secret theft charges, including unlawful
photography and transmission of trade secrets, conspiracy and
wire fraud. The two engineers took cell phone photos in a
Goodyear plant while servicing Wyko equipment there and
transmitted them to a Wyko facility in the U.K., according to a
statement from the U.S. attorney in Knoxville, Tennessee.
The photos were used to construct tire-building equipment
for a Chinese manufacturer of off-the-road tires, according to
the U.S. attorney’s statement. They faced potential 10-year
prison sentences for the trade-secret convictions and 20 years
for wire fraud, plus $2.5 million in fines.
The two received their sentences Aug. 25. They each
received four years’ probation, 150 hours of community service
and a $1,000 fine, according to court documents.
The case is U.S. v. Roberts, 3:08-cr-00175, U.S. District
Court, Eastern District of Tennessee (Knoxville).
Copyright
Unnamed Buyer Seeks Copyright to Kardashian Sex Tape, TMZ Says
Vivid Entertainment, a producer of adult films, said an
anonymous buyer has offered what the Los Angeles company calls
“big bucks” for the copyright to a sex tape allegedly made by
celebrity Kim Kardashian, the TMZ.com gossip website reported.
A lawyer acting for the potential buyer told Vivid the aim
of the purchase is the complete removal of the film from the
market, according to TMZ.com.
The potential buyer has also offered to purchase any raw
unused footage featuring Kardashian that didn’t make it into the
finished tape, TMZ reported.
Swede Gets Two-Year Prison Sentence for Copyright Infringement
A 60-year-old Swedish man was sentenced to two years in
prison for copyright infringement in that country, according to
a blog posting by Pirate Party founder Rick Falkvinge.
Falkvinge, whose political party promotes reform of
copyright laws, said in his blog posting that the alleged
infringer had shared 2,880 tracks of music through the
DirectConnect hub.
He noted that the sentence was conditional, and said that
in Sweden this is often the equivalent of probation.
Falkvinge listed what he said were typical sentences for
other offenses in Sweden, including six months for severe
negligent homicide; one year and four months for a rape
conviction; 10 months for sexual abuse of a child; and armed
robbery with a firearm, one year and nine months.
When the law under which the alleged infringer received his
sentence was enacted two years ago, Falkvinge said Swedish
politicians who approved the measure were “acting like drunken
blindfolded elephants trumpeting about in an egg-packaging
facility.”
Indian Railroad Told to Halt Music Over License Non-Payment
The Calcutta Metro Railway was ordered by the Calcutta High
Court to quit playing music in its stations without a license
and to pay license fees, the Times of India reported.
Phonographic Performance Ltd. of India, a music-licensing
agency, told the court that although Metro’s most recent music
license expired in November 2005, music videos performed on
television screens in the station needed to be licensed,
according to the Times.
The railroad argued that it had told station managers to
halt playing music and that the what was presented on television
programming didn’t infringe the copyrights, the newspaper
reported.
Officials from the railway told the Times it hadn’t yet
received the court order.
Police Officer Suspended for Downloading Movie to Squad Car
A police officer in Madison, Wisconsin, received a six-day
suspension following the discovery he’d infected his squad car’s
laptop computer by trying to download the “Hall Pass” film
without authorization, the Wisconsin State Journal reported.
After the computer was infected, the police officer tried
to remove the virus himself instead of taking it to technical-
support staff, according to the newspapers.
The suspension came for violating department policies
relating to on-duty business and the care of city-owned
property, as well as guidelines on appropriate computer use, the
newspaper reported.
His name wasn’t released to the public under department
policy regarding police discipline for administrative
violations, according to the Wisconsin State Journal.
For more copyright news, click here.
Trademark
Purple Heart Order Sues Kansas Charity for Infringing Marks
The Military Order of the Purple Heart, an organization of
veterans who have received the Purple Heart decoration after
being wounded in combat, sued a Kansas charity for trademark
infringement.
The group’s complaint, filed Aug. 26 in federal court in
Kansas City, Kansas, accuses the Purple Heart Veterans
Foundation of Tonganoxie, Kansas, of using its trademarks
without authorization.
The order claims the foundation used a website –
www.purpleheart-donations.org — to advertise and solicit money.
As the result of a domain name dispute between the two
entities, the foundation agreed to transfer the name to the
order, according to court papers. Even after the transfer, the
order claims the foundation continues its acts of infringement.
The foundation is accused of using the Purple Heart marks
to solicit money outside Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT)’s stores and other
retailers. The Springfield, Virginia-based order says it has
received none of the money collected by the foundation, and that
potential donors are confused and deceived by the foundation’s
actions.
It asked the court to bar the foundation’s use of the
order’s trademarks, for an award of all money the defendant
collected through its unauthorized use of the trademarks, and
for awards of money damages and litigation costs.
Alleging the infringement is deliberate, the order asked
that the damages be tripled to punish the defendant.
The foundation operates a website at carepkgs4veterans.org.
According to the website, the foundation has raised $50,000
since January 2010, “to assist hospitalized veterans.”
Andrew Gruber, president of the foundation, said in an e-
mail that the charity is “geared toward helping veterans” and
that “bad press” is forcing his organization to shut down.
The order is represented by Timothy R. West and Jennifer B.
Wieland of Berkowitz Oliver Williams Shaw Eisenbrand LLP of
Kansas City, Missouri, and David R. Cross and Johanna M. Wilbert
of Milwaukee’s Quarles Brady LLP.
The case is Military Order of the Purple Heart v. Purple
Heart Veterans Foundation, 2:11-cv-02485-EFM-JPO, U.S. District
Court, District of Kansas (Kansas City).
For more trademark news, click here.
Patents
Medibotics Gets Motion-Recognition Clothing-Technology Patent
Medibotics LLC received a patent for a technology enabling
clothing to recognize motion that can be used for game sensors,
virtual exercise, sports training and medical therapy.
Patent 7,980,141 covers a wearable position or motion-
sensing system. The system includes sensors that include a
flexible element containing a flowable substance such as a gel,
gas or liquid, according to the patent.
As the substance moves, it conveys that information to a
transducer that converts it into an output signal that can
indicate the degree of bending, twisting or elongation of the
sensing element. From this, the body-part position or movement
can be derived.
The technology is portable and can be used with a mobile
transmitter for any activity including swimming, the
Minneapolis-based company said in an Aug. 31 statement. It
doesn’t require users to remain in front of a stationary camera,
and can be employed by multiple users at once.
Clothing that uses this technology can be washable, the
company says.
Medibotics applied for this patent in April 2009 with the
assistance of Schwegman Lundberg Woessner PA of Minneapolis.
The patent was issued July 19.
For more patent news, click here.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Victoria Slind-Flor in Oakland, California, at vslindflor@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Michael Hytha at mhytha@bloomberg.net.
Article source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-06/ada-es-goodyear-vivid-entertainment-intellectual-property.html
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