Ever since Asetek was granted patents back in 2012 for the AIO (All-in-One) watercoolers that are so common in the computer hardware market today, Asetek has been aggressively pursuing their competitors for patent infringement and according to a recent announcement by Asetek, it appears that there might just be some legitimacy to their claims.
This morning, Asetek announced that they’ve scored a legal victory against CMI USA, Inc (Cooler Master USA, Inc.) which establishes that Cooler Master had been infringing on Asetek’s U.S. Patent No. 8,240,362 and 8,245,764. Cooler Master “…stipulated to infringement of Asetek’s U.S Patent No. 8,245,764” at trial and a “…jury determined that, since 2012, CMI has been infringing Asetek’s U.S. Patent No. 8,240,362”. Thus, the jury awarded Asetek with $404,941 in damages based on a royalty of 14.5% of all infringing sales since 2012. Asetek will also be requesting to file an injunction against Cooler Master as well, which if successful will likely ban the importation of all infringing products which includes several of Cooler Master’s Seidon AIO watercoolers.
Asetek is still litigating additional patent infringement suits against CoolIt Systems and AVC (Asia Vital Components), but given this recent victory against Cooler Master, the situation does look pretty good for Asetek.
“Although it is frustrating to have spent significant time and resources in a courtroom, it is rewarding to be vindicated in this way ,” said André Sloth Eriksen, Founder and CEO of Asetek. “We appreciate the value of competition, but it must be done on equal terms. We will not accept anyone blatantly copying the patented solutions that we have worked so hard to bring into the market”.
Source: Cision
