Columbia Sportswear Company welcomed an August 10, ruling by the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon that Seirus Innovative Accessories infringed on one of Columbia’s design patents. Columbia alleges that Seirus created its HeatWave products by copying Columbia’s patented Omni-Heat Reflective products.
“The striking visual similarity between Seirus’s design and Columbia’s patented design is likely to confuse an ordinary observer, and therefore, Columbia’s motion is granted.”
Columbia filed the suit against Seirus in Oregon in January 2015 accusing it of willfully infringing three patents relating to Columbia’s revolutionary Omni-Heat Reflective technology. One of the three Columbia patents covers a particular design of a heat reflective material. In his decision, Judge Hernandez reportedly found that, “The overall visual effect of the Columbia and Seirus designs are nearly identical,” and that “The striking visual similarity between Seirus’s design and Columbia’s patented design is likely to confuse an ordinary observer, and therefore, Columbia’s motion is granted.”
The remainder of the case, including whether Seirus willfully infringed the other two Omni-Heat Reflective patents, and the damages owed to Columbia for Seirus’s infringement of the Omni-Heat Reflective design patent, is scheduled to go to trial in April 2017.
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