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Moore's Pressure Seal Patent Claims Dismissed in Virginia Court
IMR, May 26, 1998LAKE FOREST, Ill.-Moore U.S.A. Inc.'s cases of patent infringement against The Standard Register Co. and The Reynolds and Reynolds Co. have been dismissed. (The IMR first reported on the lawsuits in the March 30 issue, page 1.) In addition, the IMR has learned that Moore filed a similar lawsuit against Poser Business Forms Inc., Fairhope, Ala.
Moore U.S.A., the U.S. subsidiary of Moore Corp. Ltd., had filed patent infringement complaints against Standard Register in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Alexandria Division. The lawsuit alleged infringement of four patents: U.S. Patent No. 4,918,128, a pressure sensitive adhesive; U.S. Patent No. 5,201,464, a pressure seal C-fold two-way mailer; U.S. Patent No. 5,253,798, a pressure seal adhesive pattern for IBM 3800 printers; and U.S. Patent No. 5,314,100, a double fold mailer developed for use with pressure sealing systems.
Standard Register was granted summary judgment of noninfringement in defense of all four claims of patent infringement alleged by Moore. Thus, Moore's action was dismissed April 17. In considering a motion for summary judgment, the court does not weigh evidence, but decides whether or not there is a genuine issue for trial.
According to court documents filed April 27, Moore's claims of patent infringement against Reynolds and Reynolds also were dismissed "in view of serious settlement discussion between the parties." The patents in question were U.S. Patent No. 4,918,128 and U.S. Patent No. 5,253,798.
On March 12, Moore reached a settlement in its patent infringement case against Champion Business Forms Inc., a manufacturer in Glendale Heights, Ill. That case involved patents 4,918,128 and 5,253,798. Under terms of the agreement, Champion consented not to manufacture the product, according to Roger Swanson, president of Champion. No damages were awarded in the case, according to a court document. The document says that Champion is prohibited from selling the forms or adhesive mentioned in the patents without permission from Moore and also prohibited from challenging the validity or enforceability of the patents "in any manner in the future." Moore officials did not return phone calls to the IMR.
Meanwhile, Moore's claims of patent infringement against Poser have not been settled. Moore U.S.A. filed a complaint for patent infringement against Poser on Jan. 26 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware. The Moore/Poser case involves three of the four patents at issue in the Standard Register case-U.S. patents 4,918,128; 5,201,464; and 5,253,798. Moore is seeking an injunction against Poser and "an accounting, assessment and award of damages...." In court documents filed in April, a trial date was set for Monday, July 26, 1999.
Poser President Dennis Grasso says, "Poser plans to defend itself vehemently in this case and continues to manufacture the [pressure seal] product. It is our intent to continue to support the independent distributor market for this growing product." Poser recently increased capacity for its pressure seal product, VersaSeal, according to Grasso.