Stertil-Koni sues VSG/Rotary Lift over lift patents
STEVENSVILLE, Md. (Aug. 6, 2012) — Stertil-Koni USA Inc., producer of the Ecolift line of scissor-style vehicle lifts, is suing Dover Corp./Vehicle Service Group L.L.C. over alleged “patent, trade dress and copyright infringement” involving VSG's Rotary Lift's EFX line of scissor lifts.
Specifically, Stertil-Koni alleges in its suit that VSG/Rotary Lift “misappropriated the trade dress of Stertil-Koni's Ecolift scissor lift, and that Rotary Lift infringed Stertil-Koni's copyrighted Ecolift drawings when Rotary Lift created its virtually identical EFX scissor lift drawings.”
Stertil-Koni's complaint seeks unspecified damages and an injunction preventing Rotary Lift from further acts of patent infringement, trade dress infringement and copyright infringement.
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“Trade dress” is defined by several sources as a form of intellectual property that refers to characteristics of the visual appearance of a product or its packaging that consumers associate with the source of the product.
VSG said it is in the process of reviewing and preparing a response to Stertil-Koni's allegations, but in general it said it is “confident the EFX product does not infringe upon Stertil-Koni's U.S. Patent No. 8,191,865” and plans to support current customers' products, fulfill pending orders and continue making the product commercially available for sale.
VSG added, “As a matter of company policy, we are not at liberty to comment on the details associated with active legal proceedings.”
Stevensville-based Stertil-Koni filed its suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.
Stertil-Koni claims to be the global market leader in heavy-duty hydraulic lifts and a “preferred supplier” to leading truck and bus companies. Its range of products includes mobile, two-post, four-post, in-ground lifts, parallelogram lifts, half-scissors and the innovative axle-engaging, in-ground, scissor-style heavy duty hydraulic lift configuration.
It produces lifts at a plant in Streator, Ill, where earlier this year it shipped the 2,000th unit made in the U.S. Stertil-Koni is part of Stertil Group of the Netherlands.
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