Smart Solar just released the following statement to its distributors:
"
Smart Solar and Alpine Corporation announced that they have amicably resolved their ongoing intellectual property dispute related to solar powered two tier fountains.
In November 2009, Smart Solar brought a lawsuit against Alpine in Federal Court in Chicago, alleging infringement of Smart Solar’s U.S. Patent No. 7,484,671, as well as Smart Solar’s copyrights and trade dress rights for its two tier fountains. Today, after nine months of litigation, U.S. District Court Judge John Darrah entered a final order. Under the Order, Alpine agreed that Smart Solar’s patent, copyrights and trade dress were valid and enforceable and agree to pay an undisclosed sum to Smart Solar to settle the case.
Smart Solar is a leading specialist in solar powered garden products, providing innovative designs using a wide range of materials that fit every garden. Along with this, they also offer the Smart Garden brand of non-solar garden items including hammocks, fire pots and tools made in the USA."
I am not sure who even knew of this litigation but it is good to see these two companies come to an agreement. Alpine Corporation designs and produces a huge assortment of indoor and outdoor fountains, including tabletop, floor and garden fountains. They only have a couple of solar fountains, so while it is currently unclear if they will continue to carry them, this should not significantly impact their sales goals. Of course, there is no word about the monetary settlement amount which obviously has an impact on any business regardless of the amount (it has to come from somewhere!).
TheWaterFountainStore.com carries the full line of Smart Solar's
solar fountains. Here you can also find the entire collection of Alpine Corporation's fountains, including their
tabletop fountains and
indoor floor fountains.
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