US
Federal Court Denies American Pipe Lining’s
Reconsideration in Patent Dispute with ACE
DuraFlo®
LOS ANGELES--, April 27, 2007 (BUSINESS
WIRE)--ACE DuraFlo® Systems,
LLC (ACE) announced today that the U.S. District
Court for the Central District of California
denied American Pipe Lining, Inc’s
(APL) request that the Court reconsider its
January 29, 2007 ruling in favor of ACE.
On January 29 the Court found that ACE had
not infringed, induced others to infringe
or contributed to the infringement of United
States Patent No. 5,707,702 (the “‘702
patent”).
The ‘702 patent, owned by the US,
is licensed to APL and sublicensed to Nu
Flow America, Inc. In August 2005, ACE was
threatened with patent infringement by APL.
APL failed to provide any evidence of infringement.
To clear the matter, ACE filed a lawsuit
in the United States District Court against
APL, as part of an ongoing dispute with APL,
Nu Flow America Inc, Nu Flow Technologies
(2000) Inc, Bill Howe Plumbing, Inc and others.
ACE sought a declaration that ACE had not
infringed, induced others to infringe or
contributed to the infringement of the ‘702
patent (U.S. District Court, Central District
of California, Case No. SACV05-1039 DDP (CTx).
APL filed a counterclaim against ACE and
its parent company for patent infringement.
In denying APL’s request for reconsideration,
the Court found that APL failed to provide
any newly discovered material or relevant
facts. The Court therefore affirmed its prior
ruling that neither ACE nor any of its franchisees
infringes or has ever infringed the ‘702
patent.
Larry Gillanders, CEO, Chief Technology
Officer for ACE, commented, “Once again,
APL’s assertions were so baseless that
APL could not and did not provide any newly
discovered or relevant facts. We believe
APL was reckless in bringing this infringement
case against us and continued along their
same path of recklessness in requesting reconsideration
when they had no new evidence or newly discovered
material. We intend to file a motion asking
the Court to require APL to pay ACE’s
attorneys’ fees incurred in defending
these baseless actions.”
About ACE DuraFlo® Systems
ACE DuraFlo Systems, provides in-place pipe
restoration technology and services in the
US, Canada and Europe. ACE DuraFlo’s
patented “in-place” pipe restoration
technology restores failing copper and encrusted
galvanized piping systems to multiple code
requirements without the extensive demolition
that accompanies a traditional plumbing repipe.
The result is a multi-code compliant restored
epoxy lined plumbing system called ePIPE®.
ePIPE is an NSF and a Uniform Plumbing Code
(UPC®) listed product. Information on
ACE DuraFlo, ePIPE may be obtained by calling
888-775-0220 or visit: www.aceduraflo.com.
Contacts
LF |PR
8935 Research Suite 200
Irvine, CA 92618
zaynabb@lucidfusion.com
949-502-7750 x.202
|
