MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -- Recovery Engineering, Inc. (NASDAQ: REIN) has announced the dismissal of a patent infringement lawsuit by the Brita Products Company and Brita Wasser-Filter-Systeme GmbH (Brita) against Recovery Engineering.
Brita alleged that Recovery's PUR water filtration pitchers and filters infringed a Brita patent. Recovery Engineering has maintained ever since the lawsuit was filed in 1997 that it does not infringe and provides significant advantages to consumers that the BRITA system does not. On March 3, 1999, Judge Charles P. Kocoras of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois agreed that Recovery's PUR pitchers and filters do not infringe, and granted summary judgment dismissing all claims against Recovery. As Judge Kocoras entered Final Judgment in this case with his Opinion, Brita will have 30 days to exercise its right to appeal the decision.
"The disposition of this case is consistent with what the company had thought all along," said Brian F. Sullivan, Chairman and CEO. "We have built a reputation for introducing innovative, technologically superior products, and have carefully maintained our corresponding patents and other intellectual property. The dismissal of this case is not very surprising."
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