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I have a scanned pdf copy of the complaint, but it's too big to upload, if somebody has a way to break it into to two pieces I'd be glad to pass it along.
No offence but it sounds just American to me. Or maybe it's the picture that we in Europe have about lawsuits in US.
The only picture I have of Europeans are the one's imprinted in my mind from meeting them on my travels. Some are good, some are bad, but mostly good. Monk, if you've been to America and spent a reasonably amount of time here, then feel free to judge. If not, don't rely on the press to give you an accurate portrayal of what Americans are like. Some are good, some are bad, but mostly good.
As for being a sue happy country, the US kicks out more patents than all other countries combined. There's bound to be copyright and patent infringment in a capitalistic society.
Who cares who is suing who, unless you own one of these tiny companies. Competition breeds superior products.
OBG's copy of the lawsuit has a great deal of information and bottom line, it covers weight pockets and trim devices. The key is what the issued patents contain, and can be found from the US Patent server on details on:
#5,855,454: Water safety and survival system (January 5, 1999)
#6,530,725: Water Safety and Survival System (March 11, 2003)
#6,558,082: Combined ballast and signalling device for a personal flotation device (May 6, 2003)
Safe Diving and Best Wishes,
I.G. Saturation
{ Comments are informational only and not meant to be medical advice applicable to a particular case. Consult your physician when considering information posted here }
Halcyon (hidden behind a name-only corp.) claims a "buoyancy compensator with 'non-releasable' weight" is their idea when trim weights were around long before these patents were applied for, it's razor thin at best.
So far, they've served DiveRite, OMS, Cressi-Sub USA, Tabata USA (TUSA), Deep Outdoors, DiveTek, Hughco Sales, Custom Buoyancy and International Divers (IDI) and they served Sherwood, Abysmal and OxyCheq at DEMA, distasteful at best and probably a violation of DEMA policy.
Review the information for yourself, the links posted earlier in the thread are the patents listed in the suits.
A friend of mine that told me about this said this:
"Better gear is available from better people."
After throughly reviewing the material, I'm inclined to agree.
The cute part of it is that some of the people they went after aren't even making the devices cited in the patents; that is pretty clearly harassment at best.
Like I said - its boycott time.
(I've known about this since it happened, and sold my Halcyon kit shortly after I heard about it. I won't have anything to do with those clowns, or anything that JJ has his fingers in - after this.)
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Originally Posted by MonkSeal
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