Skechers USA, Inc. announced today that it scored a major victory in a
patent lawsuit filed against it in the United States District Court for
the Central District of California. The lawsuit, Cancaribe Limited v.
Cobra International Inc., Case No, 07-CV-4182-GAF, involved
allegations by defendant and cross-claimant Cobra International, Inc.
alleging that the circuit used in Skechers lighted footwear infringed
Cobra’s patent on sequential lighting.
On June 6, 2012, Cobra and Skechers entered into a settlement agreement.
Cobra agreed to dismiss its lawsuit against Skechers with prejudice and
release all claims against Skechers. Skechers did not pay any money and
is free to continue using its lighted footwear technology without
modification and without any payment or obligations to Cobra.
The case settled after Skechers filed a summary judgment motion to
invalidate Cobra’s patent. The terms of the settlement amounts to a
complete victory for Skechers. The settlement agreement is publicly
available on the Court’s database.
Skechers was represented in this case by Morgan Chu, Gary Frischling,
Chris Vanderlaan, and Anthony Falcone of Irell & Manella in Los Angeles.
“We believe this settlement is a total victory for Skechers,” stated
Philip G. Paccione, General Counsel of Skechers USA, Inc. “We have
maintained that this lawsuit was frivolous since it was filed in 2007.
Our message is clear: if someone asserts an overbroad and questionable
patent against Skechers, they will not only lose their case but possibly
their patent as well.”
Paccione continued, “We also believe that, had the Court issued a ruling
invalidating Cobra’s patent, we would have been entitled to recover
attorneys’ fees from Cobra and sanctions against counsel for failure to
conduct an adequate pre-filing investigation of the claims asserted
against Skechers. Nonetheless, after five years of litigation, we
thought it was an opportune time to avoid the cost and distraction of
further litigation and of defending a possible appeal.”
In an earlier development relating to this case, Skechers initiated
reexamination proceedings before the United States Patent and Trademark
Office, which resulted in the Patent and Trademark Office issuing a
Final Office Action finding the patent invalid in September 2009. The
patent was allowed only after Cobra made amendments to certain claims.
ABOUT SKECHERS USA, INC.
SKECHERS USA, Inc. (SKX),
based in Manhattan Beach, California, designs, develops and markets a
diverse range of footwear for men, women and children under the SKECHERS
name. SKECHERS footwear is available in the United States via department
and specialty stores, Company-owned SKECHERS retail stores and its
e-commerce website, and over 100 countries and territories through the
Company’s global network of distributors and subsidiaries in Brazil,
Canada, Chile, Japan, and across Europe, as well as through joint
ventures in Asia. For more information, please visit www.skechers.com,
and follow us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/SKECHERS)
and Twitter (https://twitter.com/SKECHERSUSA).
This announcement may contain forward-looking statements that are
made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include,
without limitation, any statement that may predict, forecast, indicate
or simply state future results, performance or achievements, and can be
identified by the use of forward looking language such as “believe,”
“anticipate,” “expect,” “estimate,” “intend,” “plan,” “project,” “will
be,” “will continue,” “will result,” “could,” “may,” “might,” or any
variations of such words with similar meanings. Any such statements are
subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to
differ materially from those projected in forward-looking statements.
Factors that might cause or contribute to such differences include
international, national and local general economic, political and market
conditions including the ongoing global economic slowdown and market
instability; entry into the highly competitive performance footwear
market; sustaining, managing and forecasting costs and proper inventory
levels; losing any significant customers, decreased demand by industry
retailers and cancellation of order commitments due to the lack of
popularity of particular designs and/or categories of products;
maintaining brand image and intense competition among sellers of
footwear for consumers; anticipating, identifying, interpreting or
forecasting changes in fashion trends, consumer demand for the products
and the various market factors described above; sales levels during the
spring, back-to-school and holiday selling seasons; and other factors
referenced or incorporated by reference in the Company’s annual report
on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011 and its quarterly
report on Form 10-Q for the three months ended June 30, 2012. The risks
included here are not exhaustive. The Company operates in a very
competitive and rapidly changing environment. New risks emerge from time
to time and the companies cannot predict all such risk factors, nor can
the companies assess the impact of all such risk factors on their
respective businesses or the extent to which any factor, or combination
of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those
contained in any forward-looking statements. Given these risks and
uncertainties, you should not place undue reliance on forward-looking
statements as a prediction of actual results. Moreover, reported results
should not be considered an indication of future performance.
