US Court finds in favor of Esquel on patent infringement case

09 Apr '07

2 min read

On March 9, 2007, the U.S. District Court, Western District of Washington at Seattle issued its Findings of Facts and Conclusions of Law (Findings & Conclusions) in favor of Esquel in the case of Taltech Ltd and TAL Apparel Ltd v- Esquel Apparel Incand Esquel Enterprises Ltd, which first began in April 2004, on the complaint that Esquel willfully infringed certain patents of Taltech Limited relating to the manufacture of pucker-free seams for wrinkle-free shirts.

Key points of the Findings & Conclusions include:
1) Esquel did not infringe the asserted claims.
2) Taltech's patent that went for a full trial was found to be unenforceable as the inventor committed “inequitable conduct” before the US Patent Office during the patent application process.
3) There was clear and convincing evidence that the case was an “exceptional case”, based on “inequitable conduct”, and Esquel had to needlessly expend significant resources as a result of Taltech Limited's and TAL Apparel Limited's litigation tactics. Due to these and other findings, Taltech and TAL Apparel are to pay Esquel's reasonable attorney fees.

To Esquel, this finding of no infringement shows that the Esquel Group upholds its guiding business principles, which include a strong emphasis on ethical behavior. The Esquel Group has strong technological capabilities to deliver solutions to its customers using its own innovations.

The Esquel Group is one of the world's largest manufacturers of cotton shirts. It makes around 60 million shirts a year and employs over 45,000 people around the world.

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