Wonderland prevails in collision over child car seats
Feud centred on a trio of patents covering the adjustment of child car seats without “cumbersome operations” | Marks the manufacturer’s second win against its rival.
The designer and manufacturer of Graco child car seats has secured a victory in a patent infringement litigation trial against its competitor, Evenflo.
Delaware Federal Judge Jon McCalla delivered a decision in favour of Switzerland-based brand Wonderland, said the company’s lawyers in a statement released yesterday, January 23.
The dispute arose back in May 2020, when Wonderland sued Evenflo claiming that a trio of patents covering car seat safety designs had been infringed by the introduction of the EveryFit Car Seat.
According to the complaint, Wonderland and its affiliates invented, patented, and commercialised the detachable seatback, adjustable backrest, and the ornamental design of the EveryFit Car Seat and EveryKid Car Seat before Evenflo went on to infringe by copying its designs.
“Wonderland’s innovations, protected by the utility patents-in-suit, allow removal of the seatback to convert a car seat or booster seat into a no-back booster seat and allow adjustment and configuration of the backrest of the car seat without complex and cumbersome operations,” said the filing.
Winning streak
The patents-in-suit were US patent numbers 7,625,043 entitled ‘Child car seat with multiple use configurations’; number 8,141,951, entitled ‘Child safety seat’, which describes a car seat with a mechanism for adjusting the height of the backrest; and number D837,537, entitled ‘Infant car seat’.
Commenting on the win, Bijal Vakil, IP partner at A&O’s Silicon Valley office said: “Protecting the intellectual property and innovations of our clients is of paramount importance, and we’re pleased to have secured this victory for Wonderland, as well as having reinforced the importance of patent protection.”
The victory builds on an earlier decision in Wonderland’s favour in September 2021, where Federal Judge Richard Andrews ruled that Evenflo owed Wonderland an ongoing royalty after finding infringement of all three of the asserted patents
In February 2021, Judge Andrews held a remote trial to adjudicate Wonderland’s claims that Evenflo car seats infringed patents covering a headrest and harness system, as well as a cavity in the seat to store the harness.
In his opinion, he determined that Evenflo infringed on a total of four claims across three patents and that Wonderland was entitled to damages.
Allen & Overy’s US IP technology disputes team represented Wonderland, led by Vakil, Eric Lancaster, Shamita Etienne-Cummings, and David Tennant.
Evenflo was represented by Lauren Douville, Aaron Hankel, Trent Webb and Sharon Israel of Shook Hardy & Bacon and Jeremy Tigan of Morris Nichols Arsht & Tunnell.
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