North American Green Settles Patent Infringement Lawsuit Against Colbond Inc.

 

North American Green's Vmax3??????oe C350 mat applied for river bank protection in the White River State Park in Indianapolis. This product is protected under the company's Reinforced Composite Matting patent, which was impinged upon by Colbond. Recently the two companies settled the patent infringement lawsuit.

North American Green Inc. has recently settled its second patent infringement lawsuit against Colbond Inc. relating to North American Green?EUR??,,????'???s U.S. Reinforced Composite Matting Patent #5,849,645. This patent covers various aspects of the technology embodied in North American Green’s Vmax3??????oe line of composite turf reinforcement mats (SC250??????oe, C350??????oe and P550??????oe). Foreign equivalent patents exist in Mexico and Australia, with applications pending in several other countries.

Vmax3 products consist of permanent three dimensional netting structures incorporated with various randomly oriented fiber matrices (straw/coconut, coconut or polypropylene). The 3-D netting structure is formed by sandwiching a high strength corrugated poly netting between two high strength flat nettings.

?EUR??,,????'??These products provide immediate erosion protection prior to vegetation establishment and permanent reinforcement for the vegetation after establishment, enabling the use of vegetation in place of rock rip rap on steep slopes, high flow channels and shorelines,?EUR??,,????'?? told North American Green marketing manager Lynne Finney to LASN. ?EUR??,,????'??The fiber matrix materials act as a mulch to control erosion and aid in seed germination and plant growth, while the high strength 3-D netting structure provides permanent reinforcement of grass stems and roots.?EUR??,,????'??

These products allow vegetation to be used in very severe erosion control applications, offering safer, easier to maintain, more aesthetically pleasing erosion protection at about one-third the cost of rock rip rap. In the first lawsuit settled in 2000, a Federal District Court judged North American Green?EUR??,,????'???s Vmax3 Patent to be valid. Colbond agreed and the District Court ordered Colbond to cease manufacturing and selling certain of its composite turf reinforcement mat products. North American Green filed a second lawsuit in 2004 against Colbond and its new Enkamat II??????oe composite product. Colbond insisted that the construction of this new product fell outside the scope of the 2000 consent judgment.

North American Green agreed, and, with expectations that the changes in product construction will result in substantially lower performance capabilities than its Vmax3 products, granted Colbond a limited, non-exclusive license to manufacture and sell certain composite mats not covered by the original consent judgment. The license is subject to various conditions, including a restriction that the product not have two or more layers stitched together.

?EUR??,,????'??The first Enkamat composite product was sold under the name Enkamat Composite “C,?EUR??,,????'?? told North American Green vice president Tim Lancaster to LASN. ?EUR??,,????'??The basis for the second lawsuit was that the Enkamat II was a non-stitched product. However, we felt this new product was also within the novelty of our patent. Colbond had gone on to make this product without talking to us first.?EUR??,,????'??

Although North American Green applied for the patent on Vmax3 product in 1993, it had to wait five years to receive its patent. Lancaster said the patent will expire on Dec. 15, 2015. He said the settlement between the two companies had to remain confidential, based on the stipulations of their settlement agreement.