ORTHOMERICA® Has Been Granted a Dismissal of DeRoyal Industries, Inc.’s Complaint and a Summary Judgement of Invalidity of DeRoyal’s Patent Rights

The United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia on April 24, 2002, granted Orthomerica Products, Inc.’s request for dismissal of DeRoyal Industries, Inc.’s patent infringement lawsuit and further granted Orthomerica’s Summary Judgment Motion of patent invalidity.

DeRoyal had wrongly asserted that Orthomerica’s California Soft Spinal System was a copy of the Ortholign Spinal Brace made by Atlanta International, a DeRoyal Industries, Inc. company. DeRoyal has aggressively pursued an advertising campaign asserting that after Atlanta International introduced the Ortholign product, competitors sought to duplicate it by infringing its patent rights. This assertion continued in the advertising campaign, even though DeRoyal was aware that the orthoses had actually been designed and made at Orthomerica’s facilities.

Federal Court Senior Judge Marvin H. Shoob ruled that the evidence was clear and convincing that Orthomerica had possession of the orthosis before the Ortholign product had ever been introduced by Atlanta International and that patent rights associated with the Ortholign product are invalid.

Orthomerica’s counterclaims for defamation, disparagement, and injurious falsehoods along with the issue of compensating attorney’s fees remain pending against DeRoyal.

David C. Kerr, founder and CEO of Orthomerica Products, Inc., stated that he was particularly surprised when the lawsuit was filed since the product at issue had actually been developed at Orthomerica and was further surprised when DeRoyal continued its advertisement campaign although it knew of the development background of the product. Mr. Kerr believes that such issues should weigh heavily in favor of Orthomerica in the subsequent damage phase of Orthomerica’s pending counterclaims.