Columbia taken to court over heated products
A lawsuit filed in the US on 27 March, 2012, claims that Columbia Sportswear’s line of heated apparel products was built using technology “inappropriately taken” from Oregon-based company, Innovative Sports.
Innovative Sports is seeking undefined monetary damages and, according to a news release, injunctive relief seeking to stop Columbia from producing its heated sportswear.
Columbia spokesman Ron Parham said the company is reviewing the complaint “but we believe it’s without merit.”
Led by Colby Taylor, Innovative Sports has over the past decade developed a series of battery-powered heated apparel products, beginning with a heated pitching sleeve used by professional baseball players.
According to the lawsuit filed in Oregon Circuit Court, Innovative Sports met with Columbia executives several times between December 2004 and early 2007 to discuss potential partnerships in developing heated apparel using Innovative Sports’ technology, including a battery that enabled a jacket to power digital phones or media devices using a built-in USB port.
The partnerships were aborted by Columbia twice, though executives with the company signed three separate nondisclosure agreements throughout the course of those meetings, the lawsuit states.
In 2008, Innovative Sports began working with NCS Power, a developer of battery and power management products, to provide metal heating elements for heated gloves and jackets to be developed for third-party customers.
Mr Taylor, the lawsuit claims, wired at least 100 heating elements for delivery to NCS, where it also had an executive sign a non-disclosure agreement. While that partnership was also aborted, the lawsuit claims some of the heating elements ended up in the possession of Michael “Woody” Blackford, Columbia’s vice president of global innovation, who was also doing work with NCS.
