PHOENIX (Dec. 11, 2000) — A federal judge has awarded Tire Service Equipment Manufacturing Co. $4.1 million in damages in its six-year-long patent infringement lawsuit against Bead Seater Corp.
Tire Service Equipment (TSE) had claimed that Manchester, N.H.-based Bead Seater´s manufacture and sale of a "seating apparatus" used for tubeless tires infringed upon a U.S. patent TSE received in 1990 for its bead-seating tool.
In addition to the $4.1 million judgment, U.S. District Court Judge James B. Moran ordered a permanent injunction against Bead Seater and its president, Norman P. Demers, as well as Arizona Rubber, a Phoenix, Ariz.-based equipment distributor, prohibiting them from making, selling or using any bead-seating tools that infringe upon TSE´s patent until Dec. 17, 2008.
Attorneys for Bead Seater declined to comment on whether or not they would appeal the judgment.