ADT Security Services – the leading provider of Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) solutions – has won a victory in a major lawsuit against a competing company that was found liable for patent infringement, misappropriating trade secrets and employing unfair trade practices.
The lawsuit involved ADT’s industry-leading Sensormatic anti-theft solutions, which help to protect over 80% of the world’s Top 200 retailers from acts of shoplifting and internal theft.
In its decision, the US District Court (Southern District of Florida) immediately prohibited ‘The Tag Company’ from making or selling any of its products in the US that were produced using confidential information about patent-protected Sensormatic products. This includes ‘The Tag Company’s’ Series 58 acousto-magnetic label.
Intellectual property protection vital
“We are extremely pleased with the Court ruling and the confidence it should give customers that they can continue to rely on the integrity and high performance of our Sensormatic anti-theft solutions,” suggested Scott Clements, vice-president and general manager of Sensormatic Retail Solutions. “Protecting our intellectual property is central to our ability to continue investing in innovative solutions that help retailers deter theft and improve their profitability.”
In the lawsuit, a Federal Court found that several former Sensormatic employees who helped design, develop and market Sensormatic EAS systems had misappropriated and improperly used important proprietary information about those products to benefit ‘The Tag Company.’
The Court has also ordered ‘The Tag Company’ to pay damages and ruled that one of its consultants, Dennis Gadonniex – a former Sensormatic engineer who previously helped develop Sensormatic technology – violated his prior employment agreement by misusing confidential information. The Court has ordered Gadonniex to pay costs and attorney’s fees.
World’s fastest-growing business crime
Often referred to as the world’s fastest-growing business crime, product piracy and intellectual property thefts are estimated to cost the US economy approximately $250 billion (and up to 750,000 job losses) each year. That’s according to the Washington DC-based International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition.
Paul Paradise – author of the bes-selling book ‘Trademark Counterfeiting, Product Piracy and the Billion Dollar Threat to the US Economy’ – companies are deploying many strategies to help combat the growing problem of intellectual property theft. “We’re seeing much more aggressiveness from businesses to fight back and defend their products,” said Paradise.
A recent survey conducted by the Retail Industry Leaders Association found that 84% of national chain stores have reported an increase in shoplifting since the beginning of the recession.
With more than 1,500 patents, Sensormatic systems are engineered for superior performance to help retailers protect profits while reducing shoplifting and internal theft.