Sale of infringing Ryobi garage door openers blocked until 2023
May 23, 2018 — This week a federal court granted Chamberlain Group (CGI) a permanent injunction blocking the sale of Ryobi connected garage door openers (GD200 and GD200A) produced by Techtronic Industries Co. Ltd (TTI). Recognizing CGI’s “broad GDO-related patent portfolio” and noting that the “case was not close,” the court upheld an August 2017 jury verdict that found that TTI willfully infringed on two CGI patents.
The decision blocks the sale of the Ryobi units, and any similar units, until 2023, noting, “TTI’s infringing behavior has spanned the whole of TTI’s participation in the GDO [garage door opener] marketplace.”
Finding that TTI did nothing to avoid running “head on” into CGI’s patents, the court trebled the jury’s award of damages, awarding millions in enhanced damages, supplemental damages and attorney’s fees.
“We are firm believers in the U.S. Patent process,” said JoAnna Sohovich, CEO CGI. “The jury and court have recognized the importance of Chamberlain Group’s patents, which in turn, allows us to continually invest in innovation that delivers on consumer needs for safe, secure connected solutions.” The ruling this week followed the unanimous Federal jury decision made in August of 2017 in Chicago District Court that found in favor of Chamberlain Group in the assertion of patents against Hong Kong-based Techtronic Industries Co. Ltd (TTI), the parent company to brands such as Ryobi, Milwaukee, Hoover and Oreck, and several related entities. The jury found TTI to have willfully infringed on two U.S. Patents (U.S. Patent No. 7,635,966 and 7,224,275) through the manufacture and sale of its garage door opener under the Ryobi brand sold exclusively through The Home Depot.