ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, February 4, 1997 TAG: 9702040085
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON STAFF WRITER
That loop of shoelace that tightens your sweat pants is the subject of a federal civil trial that started Monday in Roanoke. It's a dispute worth millions to two companies arguing over a patent.
NFA Corp. of Brookline, Mass., last year sued a competitor for allegedly copying a patented NFA lace that was a hit with consumers because it won't pull out.
Asheboro Elastics Corp. of Asheboro, N.C., contends its product is like NFA's but different enough that it is not an illegal imitation. The case is expected to run through the week in U.S. District Court.
You may not recognize the names of the companies involved, but they supply waistband material with built-in laces to major brand names of athletic clothing, such as Russell and BIKE. The case is being tried in Roanoke in part because purchasers of the product include Tultex Corp. and Bassett-Walker Inc. of Martinsville. Sales of waistband material containing a lace is a $20 million a year business - though a small part of the $9.7 billion market for sports clothing in 1995.
William Poff of Roanoke, NFA's attorney, opened the trial by softly pitching about a dozen pairs of sweatpants and shorts into the jury box, where jurors passed them around. A bailiff handed Judge James Turk a pair of Kelly green shorts so he could inspect the lace.
Poff said NFA's product, an elastic waistband it has made for about 15 years, is protected by a patent which specifies what design features the company owns. One is that a lace is intermeshed into the waistband of pants and shorts. Since Asheboro came along later and integrated a lace into its elastic band, that's patent infringement, Poff said.
"This is a very simple case, actually," Poff told jurors.
Asheboro's attorney, Roberts Moore, called NFA's patent "literally a gold mine" for company owner David Casty.
"He was making $6 million to $7 million a year just on that patent, and he was, as you might imagine, very protective of it," Moore said.
The basis for the dispute was traced to Asheboro's top executive designing and patenting a similar product in 1994.
According to a narrative laid out for jurors, NFA allowed J. Keith Crisco to introduce his competing product into the market, but pleaded with him to "keep the price up," Moore said.
That equilibrium did not last. When Asheboro tried to do business with NFA's biggest customer, Russell Athletic, NFA filed the patent infringement suit, according to Moore, Asheboro's attorney.
Casty and Crisco are friends, although they will be sitting on opposite sides of the courtroom this week. After attorneys finished opening statements and the judge called a break Monday afternoon, the competitors huddled and discussed what had just been said.
LENGTH: Medium: 56 linesby CNB