RevoLaze, a laser technology firm has filed a complaint requesting a 337 Investigation with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), against 17 denim jean companies for patent infringement.
It has also filed a general exclusion order in the complaint, to prevent any and all denim jean companies from infringing on RevoLaze’s patented technology, not just the 17 named in the complaint.
This latest complaint filing with ITC follows 17 lawsuits filed in Cleveland U.S. District Court on August 15, naming these same 17 denim jean companies for violation of patent infringement.
RevoLaze is a family-operated American company that currently holds 29 worldwide patents for laser scribing methods to impart graphics and patterns on a variety of substrates.
A significant portion of RevoLaze’s intellectual property, which spent 20 years developing high-speed, high-power laser scribing technology for the denim industry, discloses the use of the laser scribing technology for fabrics such as denim.
RevoLaze’s laser abrasion technology replaces the sandblast process used in the creation of “worn look” denim jeans and found to be associated with a disabling and sometimes fatal lung disease called silicosis for the workers.
Major denim jean companies have banned the use of sandblasting. RevoLaze, through the use of its laser systems, can offer its patented laser abrading technology to solve this catastrophic health problem and substantially increase throughput versus the sandblast process.
RevoLaze’s patented processes also dramatically conserves water and reduces the amount of chemicals used in denim manufacturing.
"We have worked very hard over the last two decades to invent and patent our proprietary laser scribing technology to benefit the denim industry,” says RevoLaze CEO Darryl Costin.
"Our goal has always been to do the right thing. We want to help protect workers. We want to conserve the environment and significantly contribute to the denim industry’s green movement. We want the denim industry to continue growing and to realize cost, quality, throughput and environmental advantages with RevoLaze technology”, he informs.
However, Costin also wants companies to use RevoLaze’s patented technology legally. “We rely upon our numerous granted utility patents to protect our technology and to safeguard its competitive position,” says Costin.
If the ITC agrees that imports have violated RevoLaze’s patents, an exclusion order will be issued to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (of the Department of Homeland Security) excluding those products from the United States.
The denim jean companies named include Abercrombie & Fitch, American Eagle Outfitters, BlankNYC, The Buckle Inc., Buffalo David Bitton, Diesel S.p.A, DL1961 Premium Denim Inc., Eddie Bauer LLC, The Gap, Inc., Guess? Inc., H&M, Roberto Cavalli S.p.A, Koos Manufacturing, Inc., Levi Strauss & Co., Lucky Brand Dungarees, Inc., Fashion Box S.p.A. and VF Corporation.
