Cinpres Gas Injection has reached agreement to buy assisted moulding patents from the liquidator of Melea ... subject to contract. Under the same deal, Cinpres is also poised to acquire the ‘Melea’ trading name.
The move is set to be the final stage of an international legal dispute which was fought through the courts on both sides of the Atlantic for two decades.
Melea, which is based in Gibraltar, is in liquidation; it owned the patents marketed by US-based Gain Technologies. The company was wound up last year after it lost a defining case in the English patent courts, leaving unpaid legal costs due to Cinpres.
Cinpres Managing Director Jon Butler confirmed that he is acquiring all the remaining Melea patents – part of a complex web of intellectual property divided between the two companies.
Mr Butler said now that the patents - and the trading names - were being acquired by Cinpres, the risk of a continuing dispute with another buyer would be removed.
“We’ve agreed a price and payment terms and we’ve made the first of the payments,” said Mr Butler.
“We didn’t seek the original dispute and felt that we had little choice but to defend our intellectual property – not the least, to protect those of our customers who were using our technologies from unjustified financial and legal claims.
The positive thing is that there can now be no further confusion – Cinpres will be the undisputed owner of all the appropriate gas assisted technologies. Customers can now buy our technologies without fear of contested claims and counter-claims between Cinpres and Melea – or any other party,” he said.
