WD Sues 6 Lab-Grown Diamond Companies Over Patents

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WD Sues 6 Lab-Grown Diamond Companies Over Patents

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They threatened to do this last May, but only mentioned some in the US at the time. Here's what's going on, and why.

WD Sues 6 Lab-Grown Diamond Companies Over Patents
January 10, 2020 by Rob Bates

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"On Thursday, the Carnegie Institution of Washington and M7D Corp.—the legal name of WD Lab Grown Diamonds—sued six created-diamond companies for allegedly violating Carnegie’s patents for growing and enhancing diamonds with the chemical vapor deposition method.

The suits, filed yesterday in Southern District of New York federal court, target three pairs of related lab-grown diamond companies: Pure Grown Diamonds, based in New York City; IIa Technologies, based in Singapore; Fenix Diamonds, based in New York City, Mahendra Brothers, based in India; and ALTR Inc. and R.A. Riam Group, both based in New York City.

The three suits, which use similar language and make similar claims, allege that that the companies are infringing on two Carnegie Institution patents, to which M7D holds the license.

The first, patent number 6,858,078, issued in February 2005, lays out a method for producing CVD diamonds using a microwave-plasma process. The second, patent, RE41189, reissued in April 2010, covers a method for improving a diamond’s visual qualities using high-pressure, high-temperature treatment, a process sometimes called annealing. Diamonds grown with chemical vapor deposition that haven’t been treated are known as “as-grown.”

According to the three complaints, the patents at issue are “well-known in the lab-grown diamond industry and in particular are well-known by lab-grown diamond manufacturers, importers, and sellers.”

The plaintiffs seek an injunction against the production of any allegedly infringing products and that M7D and Carnegie receive a “reasonable royalty” from any past sales of infringing products.

“We are very serious about protecting our rights and our investment,” WD’s chief executive officer Sue Rechner, who was appointed in September, tells JCK. “The decision to start litigation is not one any company takes lightly. It’s typically a last resort. We don’t want to go into litigation, but if we must, we must. We are adamant that our intellectual property be respected.”

This action isn’t meant to disrupt the lab-grown market, she says.

“We want to make sure that quality and integrity remain pillars of this industry. To that end, WD is open to ... "

https://www.jckonline.com/editorial-art ... -diamonds/
PinkDiamond
ISG Registered Gemologist


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