USITC to investigate Babybjörn over patent claims
The US International Trade Commission (USITC) will investigate nearly 30 child carrier manufacturers including Swedish company Babybjörn and its US subsidiaries.
The section 337 investigation, announced on Friday, April 5, comes after US-based company Líllébaby submitted a complaint to the USITC last month.
Lillébaby alleged that Babybjörn and other companies had imported products that infringed two of its patents (US numbers 8,172,116 and 8,424,732) covering designs for child carriers with “adaptive leg supports”.
The commission has given the companies 20 days from the issuance of the notice of investigation to submit their response to the allegations.
Lillébaby is requesting that the USITC issue a general exclusion order or limited exclusion order preventing the further import of the allegedly infringing products. The company is also seeking cease and desist orders against the defendants.
The USITC investigation will run concurrently to a lawsuit at the US District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, which Lillébaby filed last month.
Lillébaby’s district court filing claimed that products including Babybjörn’s Baby Carrier One and the Baby Carrier One Outdoors infringed its patents.
Respondents in both cases also include other child carrier manufacturers Stokke, Cybex and Phil & Teds, as well as a number of Chinese companies.
Lillébaby is seeking that the district court award treble damages for wilful infringement as well as attorneys’ fees.
WIPR has contacted Babybjörn for comment.
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