The stomachs, and wallets, of gamers represent big business these days.
Clear Lam Packaging Inc. has settled a months-old lawsuit against Frito-Lay Inc. alleging “breach of contract, false advertising, and misappropriate of trade secrets” regarding its PrimaPak technology.
Clear Lam, based in Elk Grove Village, Ill., filed suit in September in U.S. District Court in Chicago.
PrimaPak alleged Frito-Lay “misused Clear Lam's proprietary trade secrets and confidential information to develop a competing packaging system,” the lawsuit stated.
At issue was the Doritos “Gamer Pack” packaging introduced by Frito-Lay as part of a promotion launching Xbox One video game system by Microsoft.
Gamer Pack was sold in October and November 2013 and was a reclosable rectangular package made from flexible film similar to PrimaPak, Clear Lam said.
“Although the Gamer Pack lacked the structural integrity of a PrimaPak package, its shape employed aspects of Clear Lam's cuber technology to manufacture,” the lawsuit alleged.
Clear Lam alleged Frito-Lay violated 2008 and 2011 confidentiality agreements between the two companies and supplied confidential information to Clear Lam competitors.
But on March 3, Clear Lam indicated it had reached a settlement with Frito-Lay in February.
“Frito-Lay has acknowledged, among other things, that it will respect Clear Lam's patent rights. In addition, the parties may continue to explore additional business opportunities utilizing Clear Lam's PrimaPak technology,” according to a statement from Clear Lam.
Terms of the settlement were not disclosed, the packaging company said.
Clear Lam touts PrimaPak as “the industry's first-of-its kind flexible, stackable and reclosable package produces from rollstock” on custom vertical form-fill-seal equipment.
Snack food giant Frito-Lay is a unit of PepsiCo.