ITC Judge Finds No Infringement on 2 Select Comfort Patents

December 2, 2016  by Larry Thomas in Industry, Legal   

The ruling, known formally as an Initial Determination, came in response to a complaint filed last year that American National and several sister companies were in violation of Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 by importing components that were infringing on the patents.

Select Comfort, which sells its airbeds under the Sleep Number brand, had accused American National of infringing on a patent for valve enclosure technology for the air control system, and a patent for the design of an adjustable firmness air mattress that allows each side of the mattress to be adjusted individually.

American National officials said they were “extremely pleased” with the decision and said they felt vindicated that the judge sided with their company, which is much smaller than Select Comfort.

“It sounds cliché, but this truly was a David and Goliath matchup in the consumer bedding market, and with these favorable rulings from the court, David won,” said Craig Miller Jr., president of American National.

Select Comfort officials, however, said the dispute was not over and issued a statement vowing to appeal the judge’s ruling to the full International Trade Commission.

“The Initial Determination found no violation of the trade statute because Select Comfort was found not to have satisfied a technical ITC “Domestic Industry” requirement.  We believe Select Comfort did satisfy this ITC requirement and we plan to petition the full Commission to review the Judge’s Initial Determination,” the statement said.

Miller said American National has been producing adjustable firmness airbeds with numbers on the remote controls since 1987. Today, they are sold under the Personal Comfort Bed and Instant Comfort brands. The company also makes airbeds for the medical market that primarily are used to treat and prevent bed sores.