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On May 23, 2008, Wave Loch filed a patent infringement suit against American Wave Machines (“AWM”), a company founded by Bruce McFarland, a former Wave Loch contract draftsman and engineer who had access to Wave Loch’s design schematics, proprietary know-how, trade secrets and intellectual property. Since his departure from Wave Loch, Mr. McFarland has attempted to commercialize a stationary-wave surf attraction called SurfStream, which, in Wave Loch’s view, is remarkably similar to our FlowRider® stationary sheet wave attraction.
Wave Loch’s practice has been to avoid issuing press releases regarding this litigation. Last year, however, AWM made public misrepresentations about the litigation and the reexamination process of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) that required us to set the record straight. AWM once again made public misrepresentations on May 26, 2010 in characterizing the USPTO as invalidating Wave Loch’s patents and claiming a complete unequivocal victory.
Yet, neither the litigation nor the USPTO process is complete. In fact, just yesterday, Wave Loch’s founder, Thomas J. Lochtefeld, personally met with USPTO examiners to review Wave Loch’s patents. As a result, Wave Loch now expects the patents asserted against AWM to emerge from the reexamination process even stronger and to be able to add more claims against AWM. Furthermore, Wave Loch’s recently issued U.S. Patent No. 7,666,104, which issued in February 2010, even more completely protects Wave Loch’s FlowRider against stationary-wave surf attractions such as the SurfStream. AWM, however, continues to attempt to sell the Surfstream, and by doing so, continues to place itself and its customers at risk of being subject to injunctive relief and significant monetary damages.
About Wave Loch:
Wave Loch was founded in 1991 by Thomas Lochtefeld, a Southern California surfer inspired by the shallow reef breaks off La Jolla, California. Mr. Lochtefeld is the originator of sheet flow stationary wave technology, and his company, Wave Loch, is the world leader in human generated wave and surf pool equipment. Wave Loch holds numerous stationary wave patents in over 22 countries and has over 140 of its FlowRider® and FlowBarrel® sheet wave installations spanning the globe.
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