News
Spin Master and Sliverlit Toys sue KB Toys and Westminster
Helen Jacobs Oct 24 2007, 10:05am
Creator believes competitor's mini helicopter infringes design patents.
Spin Master and Silverlit Toys have filed a joint lawsuit against KB Toys and Westminster to stop sales of a competing mini helicopter.
The lawsuit alleges the Thunder Wolf Mini Indoor MicroLite Helicopter infringes certain U.S. design patents owned by Silverlit, creator of the Havoc Heli, which is licensed by Spin Master and sold as the Air Hogs Havoc Heli.
The lawsuit also alleges KB and Westminster conspired to copy the helicopter and replace its sales with the Thunder Wolf.
Both Spin Master and Silverlit are seeking an injunction against further sales of the Thunder Wolf and compensation for past sales.
Anton Rabie, Spin Master's CEO, said: "We have spent considerable time, effort and money in promoting the Havoc Heli to the point now where it is one of the top toys of the year.
We will not stand by idly and let others benefit from all of those efforts. We have a strong history of vigorously protecting intellectual property which we own and license and the Air Hogs Havoc Heli merits vigorous protection."
Eddie Wong, director of marketing and sales at Silverlit added: "The Havoc Heli utilizes a unique and innovative technology and we have gone to great lengths to protect this award winning toy. We will pursue any distributors or manufacturers who try to wrongfully capitalise on those innovations."
The lawsuit follows Spin Master and Silverlit obtaining an injunction earlier in the year against Hobbytron for selling a version of the Air Hogs Havoc Heli.
