Gamber-Johnson and National Products, Inc. Agree to Settlement
VersaTrue(R) ball-and-socket mounts to be discontinued
STEVENS POINT, Wis., Oct. 5 -- A federal court earlier this week approved a Consent Judgment, concluding a patent infringement lawsuit brought against Gamber-Johnson by National Products, Inc. (NPI). Gamber- Johnson and NPI jointly submitted the Consent Judgment to the court as part of a settlement agreement. Gamber-Johnson and NPI sought to terminate the litigation and neither company can appeal the Consent Judgment.
NPI filed the lawsuit in December 2004, alleging that Gamber-Johnson's VersaTrue(R) ball-and-socket mounts infringed on select products from NPI's RAM Mount product line. NPI subsequently asserted an additional claim for trade dress infringement. With the settlement, both companies resolved all the issues of patent and trade dress validity, enforceability and infringement.
"The continued cost of defending ourselves against NPI's lawsuit simply did not make any further economic sense. We, and our attorneys, strongly believe that our VersaTrue ball-and-socket mounts did not infringe on any of NPI's intellectual property," said Jeff Greene, president of Gamber-Johnson.
Notably, Gamber-Johnson applied for and received their patent for the VersaTrue ball-and-socket mount, U.S. Patent No. 7,090,181. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office recognized that the VersaTrue mounting system was patentable over the patent in NPI's lawsuit, as well as two other NPI patents.
As for trade dress, "no consumer seeing these two products could possibly believe they were copies," said Greene. "No customer has ever told us that they confused the two." Pictures of the actual products show why.
As part of the settlement, Gamber-Johnson will discontinue the VersaTrue ball-and-socket mounts and will cease selling the products by the end of 2006.
"The VersaTrue ball-and-socket mounts were well received in targeted markets; however, maintaining that product line required a disproportionate amount of company resources," said Greene. "In the final analysis, we thought it best for our customers if we spent our resources on product development and value-added services for our core business rather than on the impractical cost of litigation."
Gamber-Johnson has long been recognized as the pioneer in the design and manufacture of rugged docking stations and vehicle mounts. The continued strong demand for these types of products has led the company to place more strategic focus on streamlining the assembly process which will result in improving the company's already industry leading delivery times and customer service response.
"We recognize the announcement to discontinue the VersaTrue ball-and- socket mounts may disappoint some of our customers. However, this decision allows us to devote our resources and full attention to providing superior mounting and docking solutions for multiple industries. We are dedicated to delivering superior value to our customers, and our sharper focus enables us to do so better than any other company in our industry," said Greene.
About Gamber-Johnson:
Customers of all sizes -- in public safety, field service, utilities and the military -- rely on Gamber-Johnson's rugged docking stations and vehicle mounts on a daily basis. In business since 1954, Gamber-Johnson has been the choice of fleet managers for decades. As a result, the company's vehicle mounting systems are installed in thousands of vehicles worldwide. Industry professionals associate the Gamber-Johnson name and products with quality, safety and reliability. http://www.gamberjohnson.com/
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