{"id":379,"date":"2011-02-17T17:29:19","date_gmt":"2011-02-18T01:29:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ipmetrics.net\/blog\/?p=379"},"modified":"2011-02-17T17:29:19","modified_gmt":"2011-02-18T01:29:19","slug":"volcom-will-not-let-the-holden-kids-ride-free","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.ipmetrics.net\/blog\/litigation\/infringement\/volcom-will-not-let-the-holden-kids-ride-free\/","title":{"rendered":"Volcom will not “Let the [Holden] kids ride free”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

After allegedly not receiving a satisfactory response to a C&D letter, American outdoor sportswear clothing manufacturer and patent holder Volcom Inc.<\/a> has just filed a patent infringement lawsuit against competitor Holden LLC<\/a> (Case No.8:11-cv-00269 California Central District Court).<\/p>\n

The patent at issue in the case is No. 7,874,019 “Powder skirt zipper system<\/a>” (elastic bands snuggly fitting the waist while attaching to the inside of a jacket)\u00a0\u00a0which discloses a jacket having a powder skirt and trousers that can be attached to the powder skirt via at least one fastener.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

One of the embodiments of the Volcom invention includes a water resistant jacket with an elasticized powder skirt having two edges, one attached to the jacket, the other to the pants, thus sealing off the wearer from the snow.<\/p>\n

Volcom, which campaigns to make skateboarding, surfing and snowboarding competitions free under the “Let the kids ride free<\/a>” banner,\u00a0points in the complaint\u00a0to specific features of certain Holden garments that are allegedly infringing the patent.<\/p>\n

The case is rare in the apparel industry in that it does not address the more common issues of trademarks, they are quite distinct in this case, or copyrights or design patents, as most features in this field are functional and thus not eligible for this type of protection. Rather, the specific competitive\u00a0innovation is covered by a recently issued patent. \u00a0These facts, and the risks of a potential injunction, lead us to expect a close and short battle in court.<\/p>\n

From the perspective of potential patent infringement damages calculations, an important issue is the damages period, which typically starts no sooner than the issue date of a patent. \u00a0In this case, one point of view would be that infringing sales have only been accruing since the issue date 45 days ago. \u00a0This aspect would lead us to expect an increased priority for an injunction. \u00a0We shall continue to monitor the case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After allegedly not receiving a satisfactory response to a C&D letter, American outdoor sportswear clothing manufacturer and patent holder Volcom Inc. has just filed a patent infringement lawsuit against competitor Holden LLC over the issue of its patented powder skirt zipper system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,12,17],"tags":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2xROl-67","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ipmetrics.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ipmetrics.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ipmetrics.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ipmetrics.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ipmetrics.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.ipmetrics.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ipmetrics.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ipmetrics.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ipmetrics.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}