MENLO, Ga. & LEXINGTON, Mass., March 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Best Manufacturing Company ( http://www.bestglove.com/ ), the nation's leading industrial and medical glove maker, and its parent company, Tillotson Corporation, announced today the settlement of patent infringement cases pertaining to its patent for thin disposable nitrile gloves (US Patent No. Re. 35, 616).
Settlement and licensing agreements were completed with Medline Industries, Inc., Shen Wei USA, and Asian manufacturers Zhangjiangang Dayu Rubber Products Co., Ltd., Zhenjiang Kangda Emulsion Co., Ltd. and Zhenjiang Suhui Latex Products Co., Ltd. This followed previous settlement and license agreements with High Five Products, Inc. and Omni International, LLC. While the financial terms of those settlements are confidential, all of those agreements have included consent injunctions respecting the validity and enforceability of the patent and admissions of infringement. Sempermed USA, Inc. has also entered into a settlement and license agreement concerning the Tillotson patent and all the terms of that agreement are confidential. The initial patent litigation with Safeskin Corporation resulted in a confidential settlement and license agreement in November of 1999.
"We will continue to aggressively defend our intellectual property rights, support and protect our current licensees and grant licenses where appropriate," commented Bill Alico, President & CEO of Tillotson Corporation. "It's absolutely critical to the future development and advancement of our industry that full protection of intellectual property and technology patents is strictly enforced."
The patent involved concerns the low modulus formulation that makes the Best disposable nitrile glove uniquely comfortable and fatigue-reducing, and which is at the heart of its flagship brand N-DEX(R). The N-DEX(R) is the world's first disposable nitrile glove and its family has expanded to include the N-DEX(R) Free, the world's first accelerator-free disposable nitrile glove, and the N-DEX(R) NightHawk(TM), the world's first stealth-black, accelerator-free disposable nitrile glove.
Best Manufacturing is a privately held company and one of the world's leading manufacturers of hand protection for industrial and medical markets. Best sells exclusively through its worldwide distributor network to end users in every industrial and medical category. For more information on Best Manufacturing, visit http://www.bestglove.com/ ; or write Best Manufacturing, Edison Street, Menlo, Georgia, 30731.
Best Manufacturing CompanyCONTACT: Mark Wheeler of Best Manufacturing, +1-800-819-6980, ext. 6799,or mwheeler@bestglove.com
Web site: http://www.bestglove.com/