Cocona suing North Face, Columbia Sportswear for patent infringement

By

Obi Anyanwu

Published
May 11, 2017

Columbia Sportswear and The North Face are in the middle of a patent infringement battle with Cocona Natural Technologies.
 
Cocona filed a lawsuit against the two outdoor brands for selling products that violate the Boulder, CO-based company's 37.5 Technology. Cocona asserted US Patent No. 8,945,287 B2 against the two brands for selling products enhanced with active particles.
 

The patent, which was issued to Cocona in 2015, teaches a method for making a membrane enhanced with active particles by replacing the inside layer of a hardshell fabric with a functional print. The outdoor industry firm has incorporated the technology into its products with a 2.5, or two-and-a-half, layer fabric, where the third layer is replaced by a print layer. Cocona’s patented technology changes the print layer to a functional print.
 
The United States District Court for the District of Colorado on Wednesday issued an Order denying Columbia's Motion to Transfer the lawsuit filed by Cocona.

"Cocona is first and foremost interested in creating mutually beneficial business relationships with partners interested in using our proprietary technology in a variety of applications.  However, when a company is using our patented technology without permission, Cocona has no choice but to take the matter to a court of law," said Jeff Bowman, CEO.
 
Cocona previously worked with The North Face to help develop higher performance fabrics containing active particles. The technical clothing company registered and owned the FlashDry name and transferred ownership to The North Face when the brand was a customer. Other customers that legally license specific functional print technology from Cocona include Carhartt, First Lite, Trek, Mavic, Ride, Sun Mountain and Rip Curl among others.
 
Bowman added, "As a technology company with dozens of issued patents, we must fiercely defend our intellectual property against companies that seek to exploit Cocona's patented technologies without permission."