0C5stein

HANS FILES PATENT INFRINGEMENT SUIT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


HANS FILES PATENT INFRINGEMENT SUIT

Atlanta, Georgia (December 10, 2008) - HANS Performance Products “HANS”, manufacturers of the multiple award winning HANS Device, has filed a patent infringement suit in the District Court for the Southern District of California against Innovative Safety Technology, LLC.

In the suit, HANS alleges that the defendant’s defNder G70 product infringes U.S. Patent No. 6,009,566. HANS is seeking damages, injunctive and other relief.

“We and our licensees have invested significantly in the invention, innovation and continued development of proprietary head and neck restraint technologies,” said Mark Stiles, Chief Executive Officer of HANS Performance Products. “When others make use of our patented technology, we will always take aggressive action to protect our investment, including the enforcement of our legal rights.”

The HANS Device is a safety product worn by racecar drivers to help protect against life threatening basilar skull injuries of the type that are acknowledged to have killed stock car racing legend Dale Earnhardt in 2001. With more than 65,000 users, the industry leading HANS Device is the most tried, tested and trusted head and neck restraint worldwide. The uniqueness of its intellectual property and the company’s leading contribution to motorsports safety was most recently recognized by the presentation of the Society of Automotive Engineer’s 2008 Motorsports Engineering Award.

HANS is represented by the law firm Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP.

The HANS Device is the #1 choice for performance, #1 for vision and #1 for winners.

Details and information about HANS Performance Products are available at www.hansdevice.com or by calling 1-888-HANS-999 or 770-457-1046.

HANS, the Safetyform shape and their derivative styles are trademarks of HANS Performance Products

CHJ In Virginia

I Googled Innovative Safety Technology, LLC., and could not find out much about any type of restraint device. They make a "nod off sleep" alarm for drivers and market that. Any body have an idea of the device that HANS is going to court over ??

mikahb

defNder.com

rustyguns

looks like a green hans! i see dead meat!

Sidney004

Did you see a price on the defnder "Hans" ?

rustyguns

no price just had a list you can get on to preorder it

RC45

SInce when are yo unot allowed to improve on a design? I thought thats what innovaionwas all about?

If HANS feel so threatened, why not make the same improvements that these guys have?

It is almost as if Patent Law is the tool of the modern closed market monopoly.

kentz06

With this type of thinking investment in innovation would decline dramaticly. With no legacy costs every product design would be stolen and produced at a lower cost, putting the original developer at a disadvantage.

It looks like a few primary injection molded parts held together with bolts. Completely different construction but the theory of head restraint appears to be the same.

Dean

rbl

And this thinking is also why prescription drugs are astronomical and why a HANS device cost $700 - 1100!

There is no reason for these things to cost more than a couple hundred bucks. I think this cow is delivering by the truck load

RogueVette

There are many items out there that are similar but different. I mean just look at helmets or 5/6 point harness's. They all look very similar but have different features and designs that make them different.

I actually like the looks of this better then the Hans. I like the "wings" that look like they would hold the belts in place better.

sperkins

So 'Hans' thinks they are the only company that can produce a harness utilized H&N device? I'm all about being against copyright infingement, but I just don't see it in this case.

rustyguns

kinda like what the Chinese do to us?

Obviously not too many business owners on the site

Lancer033

Didn't HANS start out in the mid 80s doing research, so that's close to 20 years of research before making the HANS device that we all know today. These guys take that research, make a few minor changes, paint it green and HANS gets nothing for their time and effort over the last decade? sorry, but I'm with HANS on this one.

kentz06

It is amazing how your thinking changes when you are personally responsible for making payroll.

Dean

RC45

Dont be so quick to rush to judgement. Not everyone with an opposing view is a "lazy union worker" looking for bailout

A closed market monopoly does nothing for the customer base and does not naturally improve the bread - I mean why should HANS change a winning cash cow formula?

I have spoken to 2 HANS users that inducated shoulder harness shifting is the only problem they sometimes experience. Obvioulsy HANS have not tried to improve on the situation, as they have a captive audience - and as soon as a competitor crops up with a better mouse trap off they run to the lawyers.

Some sort of licensing agreement (if it is shown they stole the HANS design) would surely be a more mutually benefical approach that just "running to the lawyers".

mousecatcher

i hope not, since it's a patent issue, not copyright. completely different.

rustyguns

Quote:
Originally Posted by sperkins View Post
So 'Hans' thinks they are the only company that can produce a harness utilized H&N device? I'm all about being against copyright infingement, but I just don't see it in this case.


Yeah! So they should be able to copy Huh?

John Shiels

over 30% of a ladder's price is for court cases.

ghoffman

I saw it at PRI and it looked pretty nice. I can see why HANS is not pleased, as an owner of an innovation based company, it is upsetting when others steal your ideas, fudge it a little and claim it as their new brilliant idea. It costs a lot of time and money to develop new products that may or may not pay off. In this case, there are apparent improvements, but it seems to be more or less a HANS. I hope they work out a license agreement, it had some good ideas in adjustability and belt retainment.

0C5stein

I think you are right on track Gary.
When we were in manufacturing, we would make a point to roll out new products at our national trade show and it used to really frost me that almost by the time we got home, one of our less scrupulous competitor would be introducing their latest copy of our idea. We used to have so much money invested in R&D that it was criminal for people to be able to virtually steal our assets that we invested in.

I used to make it a game to display things that looked like a new design, that would have a short working life or produce poor operation insitu and watch our competitors have huge product failures with their "New design" months later. We would even lable tha new designs as "Prototype", yet they would copy it anyway.
Of course we would show our true new designs at private receptions, to our faithful customers, at the show. After three years, my competitors stopped copying me. LOL