News Article
Best Prevails in Patent Infringement
MENLO, Ga. & Lexington, Ma. July 24, 2005 - Best Manufacturing Company (www.bestglove.com), the nation's leading industrial and medical glove maker, and its parent company, Tillotson Corporation, announced today the settlement of a patent infringement case pertaining to its patent for thin disposable nitrile gloves (US Patent No. Re. 35, 616).
A Settlement and Licensing Agreement was completed with Ammex Corporation of Tukwila, Washington. The agreement includes Ammex's admission of the validity of the Best patent and its admission of infringement by importing and selling gloves made in Thailand and China. A consent injunction prohibiting future infringement was subsequently filed with the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. In addition, Best and Ammex have entered into a license agreement which allows Ammex to sell disposable nitrile gloves for an up front in exchange payment partly related to past infringement and ongoing royalty payments on future sales until the expiration of the patent in 2010. Best has also agreed to a 50% reduction in royalty rates if Ammex buys its gloves from a manufacturer who has in turn taken a license under the Tillotson patent. In addition, Ammex has agreed to mark Best's patent numbers on the packaging, advertising, and promotional literature for its disposable nitrile gloves.
"We have a duty to our customers, our employees and our industry to make sure we protect our intellectual capital and investments," commented Bill Alico, President & CEO of Tillotson Corporation. "It's absolutely critical to the future development and advancement of our industry that full protection of intellectual property and technology patents is strictly enforced."
"We are very excited about the opportunity to be one of the first companies in North America to secure a limited, non-exclusive license to offer nitrile gloves for sale in the United States," commented Fred Crosetto, CEO of Ammex Corporation. "This gives us a tremendous jump in the market place. Our customers can be assured that they can purchase licensed nitrile gloves from Ammex which are covered under the patent. Glove buyers and distributors that purchase unlicensed gloves from factories and importers could be open to liability claims from patent infringement lawsuits."
This agreement follows an infringement settlement reached in November pertaining to the patent, which included domestic-based companies Medline Industries and Shen Wei USA, and several Chinese-based manufacturers and preceded a license agreement in July with Microflex Corporation of Reno, Nevada. Since its original infringement settlement with Safeskin Corporation back in November 1999, Best continues to aggressively defend its patent and intellectual property rights.
The patent involved concerns the low modulus formulation that makes the Best disposable nitrile glove uniquely comfortable and fatigue-reducing, and which is at the heart of its flagship brand N-DEX® glove line. The N-DEX® family of glove protection includes the world's first disposable nitrile glove and has expanded to include the N-DEX® Free glove, the world's first accelerator-free disposable nitrile glove, and the N-DEX® NightHawk™ glove, the world's first stealth-black, accelerator-free disposable nitrile glove.
Ammex Corporation is a premier supplier of latex, vinyl and nitrile gloves along with a complete line of disposable products for the industrial and medical industries. For additional information about Ammex, please visit www.ammex.com or write: Ammex Corporation, P.O. Box 88047, Tukwila WA 98138 or dial 1-800-274-7354.
Best Manufacturing is a privately held company and one of the world's leading manufacturers of hand protection for industrial and medical markets. Best sells exclusively through its worldwide distributor network to end users in every industrial and medical category. For more information on Best Manufacturing, visit www.bestglove.com; or write Best Manufacturing, Edison Street, Menlo, Georgia, 30731.
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