Dr. Tsengas continued, “As a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, we support the Chamber’s activities related to legal reform and welcome the efforts by Ms Christine Varney, who heads the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division and has the solid backing of the White House, to more aggressively pursue antitrust cases and investigate business practices that limit competition. We believe that only through fair and open competition will the consumers’ needs, in terms of quality, innovative and competitively priced products, be best served.”

SmartScoop® (www.smartscoop.com) incorporates state of the art technology, can utilize any type of clumping cat litter, its modular design can be easily assembled and disassembled for ease of cleaning and maintenance and is very economical to purchase and operate due to its low cost No-Touch Waste Bag™ system. SmartScoop® accessories include activated carbon filters, easy access ramp, no-stick spray and odor control spray.

Dr. Steven Tsengas, PhD, President and CEO stated, “We are very pleased with the recent positive SmartScoop ruling from U.S. Customs validating the intellectual property embodied in our SmartScoop Litter Box. Unfortunately, our competitor continues the process of misrepresenting legal decisions, our products, brand, and reputation in letters to our customers.  We feel that our competitor is ruthless in its attempt to use its limitless financial position to bully our customers and our Company.  We are displeased with these inappropriate, unprofessional and unethical actions and vow to fight diligently to enhance and grow our products and patents.”

Click HERE to read the entire release.

Read the entire release HERE.

Read the release from OurPet’s HERE.

Read the release from Lucky Litter LLC HERE.

Read the release from Salton, Inc. (Applica) HERE.

Applica / Salton alleges that SmartScoop infringed on one or more of its patents covering their automated self-cleaning litter box, which OurPet’s believes is unmerited.

The OurPet’s Company

OurPet’s was founded in 1995 by Dr. Steve Tsengas with a single product and a single goal: To improve the health, safety, comfort and enjoyment of pets. For the past 13 years, OurPet’s has developed and patented scores of products that focus on solutions to pet and owner issues. The company has enjoyed critical and marketplace success, but at 23 employees, is still a relatively small company, especially in the $43 billion pet market. Despite encountering hundreds of challenges along the way, OurPet’s is now faced with the challenge of its life - it is being sued by a competitor that has the resources of a $20 billion company.

The Litter Box Problem

Cats are wonderful pets - they are cuddly, cute, relaxing, and fun to watch while they play. 93% of cat owners believe the best benefit to having a cat in the home is they provide companionship, love and company. Unfortunately, 32% of cat owners believe cat waste and odor are a major problem.

After thoroughly and carefully researching cat owner beliefs about waste and odor control products, OurPet’s embarked on an entrepreneurial mission to develop a solution for the problem. Starting with a desire to create a litter and odor solution for these wonderful feline friends (and their owners), a blank piece of paper, and three years of hard work, sacrifice and an investment of over $1 million, OurPet’s developed the SmartScoop line of cat litter maintenance products.

The Litter Box Lawsuit

Based on retailer and customer reaction since being introduced, it appears that SmartScoop has the potential to significantly improve the lives of cats and their owners. Unfortunately, OurPet’s and two other companies that introduced automatic cat litter boxes to the market have been sued by a major competitor for alleged patent infringement. Applica / Salton is also challenging Chicago-based Lucky Litter LLC and Arlington, Texas-based Doskocil Manufacturing Co. Applica / Salton first filed suit in Federal Court/Texas Eastern District in October 2007 and in the International Trade Commission in Washington D.C. in November 2007. The lawsuit alleges that OurPet’s infringed on one or more of Applica’s patents covering their automated self-cleaning litter box, which OurPet’s believes is without merit.

The Litigants

OurPet’s Co. (2007 revenue of $10.5 million) was sued by Applica Inc. (2005 revenue of $556 million), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Salton, Inc. (2006 revenue of $636 million). Harbinger Capital Partners owns 92% of the outstanding common stock of Salton, and as of March 1, 2008, the Harbinger Capital Partners investment team was managing in excess of $20 billion. That means that OurPet’s is engaged in a legal struggle with a company 2,000 times its size.

OurPet’s Vigorously Denies Alleged Patent Infringement

OurPet’s does not feel that SmartScoop infringes the Applica / Salton patents. OurPet’s utilized a patent attorney in every step of the design process and has obtained an independent opinion letter from an intellectual property law firm who supports the company’s position. OurPet’s hopes this matter will be resolved soon, but is prepared to defend SmartScoop and pending patents diligently.

The Legal System

According to a study by M. Webbink in the Duke Law Review, under the current patent legal system a patent infringement lawsuit can easily cost $1.5 million in legal fees to defend it in the International Trade Commission (ITC). This gives a tremendous advantage to large companies like Applica / Salton as opposed to smaller companies with limited financial resources like OurPet’s. Congress is aware of this and is pressing legislation to help smaller companies like OurPet’s by making the patent litigation process, especially for smaller companies, simpler, more efficient, faster and less expensive. House Resolution 1908 (HR 1908) passed the House in September 2007 and is currently on the senate calendar.

In the meantime, OurPet’s continues shipping SmartScoop products to its appreciative customers and simultaneously defending its SmartScoop proprietary products and its right to make available the best, most price competitive litter solution on the market.

This site exists to provide additional information to interested parties.

Interview requests and press inquiries should be directed to info@SmartScoop.com

“…it appears that Applica is trying to use its vast wealth to bully a small family built company, not only out of the market, but out of business.”

Read the entire letter HERE.

“…possible concerns about the financial impact Applica’s suit could have on a comparatively smaller Ohio company.”

Read the entire letter HERE.

“Our concern that this small employer which is very important to our Village and is a “solid and trusted” contributor may be being made an unfair target by a “deep pockets” bully.”

Read the entire letter HERE.

To put this in perspective, the legal costs OurPet’s has incurred is 7% of its 2007 revenue. In comparison, the same cost is only .06% of Applica / Salton’s 2006 revenue and .0037% of Harbinger’s 2007 managed capital value.

The maker of pet products on Monday reported a first-quarter net loss of $391,472 despite a 12.5% increase in revenue, to $2.9 million, from the like period a year ago. The company said net income would have been $167,650 excluding litigation expenses in the quarter that totaled $559,122.

Read the entire article HERE