Oslo court to hear appeals in patent conflict

by
SalmonBusiness

The inventor of a net-cleaning system is demanding that its competitor destroys all its similar systems, also those that have already been sold. 

Multi Pump Innovation (MPI) and Pump Supply will meet next week in Borgarting Court of Appeal in Oslo, Norway.

The conflict goes all the way back to 2013, according to Tekniske Ukeblad. During the well-known Aqua Nor fair, inventor Trond Sivertsen discovered “Netmaster”, a net cleaning system being sold by Pump Supply. According to Sivertsen, this system was an exact copy of the “Terminator”, a net cleaning system that his company was about to file a patent for.

Demands net cleaning system to be destroyed
Now MPI demands that Pump Supply destroys all the net cleaning systems sold within the aquaculture industry.

«Terminator». PHOTO: MPI

“This is a blatant copy of another’s product,” said Steinar Lie of Zacco, a lawyer for MPI.

CEO of Pump Supply, Bjorn Terje Ulvnes, disagrees.

“We hope that the court rules the patent invalid so that it can not be used to block other actors out of the market,” he said.

Appealed twice
The case has already been twice to court, and both times Pump Supply has lost and appealed.

First, the company was sentenced for patent infringement, and Oslo Tingrett denied Pump Supply the right to sell its net cleaning system. But MPI claimed its competitor had failed to destroy those machines that had already been sold, as they initially demanded. This verdict was appealed.

Then Pump Supply tried unsuccessfully to get the MPI patent declared invalid, but Pump Supply was ordered to pay over a hundred thousand euros in legal costs. This verdict was also appealed.

Now it is up to Borgarting Court of Appeal to look into the conflict.

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