Often in news stories about patent infringement cases, the accused party issues a brief denial or a terse no comment. That's not the case today in the suit filed April 15 by Conair Group Inc. against Novatec Inc. Conrad Bessemer, former president of Conair North America and current president and CEO of Novatec, issued this joint statement with Steve Maguire, majority owner of Novatec, responding to the lawsuit:
The lawsuit filed by The Conair Group, Inc. against Novatec, Inc. regarding U.S. Patent Number 5,487,225 has no basis in fact. It is apparent that Conair has not focused on the claims within their patent and not researched in detail the way that the Novatec technology works. It is also a deliberate effort to besmirch the reputation of Conrad Bessemer who has not worked at Conair in almost 3 ½ years. The patent in question was technology actually invented by Jack Downie, former Conair-Franklin President in 1994, (who passed away this year) and assigned to Conair. The patent applies to a software feature that Conair has made available in the past, and that received little customer interest at that time. More recently, Conair incorporated this feature in a new product offering that was introduced commercially after Bessemer left Conair called “EnergySmart”. However, according to Bessemer and Maguire, the Conair software is overly complex, expensive and unnecessary with Novatec technology. “That is why we don't infringe—because their software patent just isn't necessary on Novatec proprietary systems”, said Maguire. “The bottom line is that we don't come close to any of the claims in this Conair patent. Our separate proprietary technology is simpler and therefore less expensive—and that is why Conair is losing in the market place.” According to Conrad M. Bessemer, President and one of the owners of Novatec, Inc. “The Conair suit is baseless and shows the desperation of Conair which has lost tremendous market share to Novatec over the past several months. In fact, Conair has recently resorted to discounts of up to 60% in the market in their desperation to defeat Novatec. Now they have resorted to a frivolous lawsuit in an attempt to further restrain Novatec's technology. "Further”, according to Bessemer, “there has been an ongoing direct dialog with Conair's President Christopher S. Keller during the last month on this particular patent issue. During that dialog, Novatec completely investigated the situation multiple times and found that there was no infringement of the Conair patent, and that “there is no connection between we Novatec is selling and the Conair patent. In fact, said Bessemer, the dialog clearly demonstrated that Keller is not clear about the actual claims of his own patent, but rather was interested in undermining Novatec's strong competitive gains.” “In fact, Conair and Keller have been unwilling to tell us what feature in our product is infringing—and that is because there is none.” Bessemer went on to say that “Novatec has had various independent authorities examine the Conair patent and none have found any basis of infringement.” According to Bessemer, it is fitting that the suit was filed on April 15th…the very day that the most recent market share statistics for plastics dryers were released to participants. This report which summarizes US plastic industry sales during the first three months of 2009 shows that Novatec has completely dominated the dryer industry with its proprietary technology. According to Maguire, Novatec has never had any intention or need to infringe on the Conair patent. In fact, although Bessemer is accused of “mimicking” Conair technology, “Novatec has a long history of energy-saving proprietary technology and its own patents governing its technology. Novatec has been the industry leader in dual flow technology for over this decade with the original Novadrier patented two stage drying technology and later technology which has consistently shown that Novatec has been the technology leader in dual flow energy saving drying. In fact, Novatec showed dual flow technology at NPE 2006 well before Conair commercialized their “EnergySmart” system. “ With the technology basis and patents at Novatec, there was never a need to “mimic” Conair. In fact, it has been clear that Conair has mimicked Novatec's proprietary technology which includes the broadest line of dryers in the plastics industry today. Bessemer also expressed “shock and outrage” at Conair's charges that he “took” the Conair technology. In fact, he said “the Conair EnergySmart concept “was introduced a year after I left.” Furthermore, “in actuality, there was never any thought given to taking Conair technology because Novatec's technology was already separate and distinct, proven in the market and was much simpler and less expensive. Bessemer promised a vigorous effort to clear his name and also intends to hold Conair responsible for damages to his reputation. Bessemer said, “there is no intrigue here”. “ This is a dispute over technology and unfortunately Conair has no real understanding of their own patent. I have always and will always respect intellectual property and will hold Conair to task for their personal charges. To bring this up well over three years after I left Conair shows that there is little to their implications.” Bessemer and Maguire said “we regret that Conair has seen fit to handle their loss of sales in this way, however, we welcome the opportunity to demonstrate to anyone, including Federal Court, that Conair has no basis in fact for their patent claims, and in fact Novatec has been the injured party for which Conair will ultimately be responsible for damages. “