Casper Hit with Patent Infringement Suit by Serta Simmons Bedding

October 3, 2017  by Larry Thomas in Industry, Legal   

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in New York City, claims that the Wave mattress uses “channel cut technology” that is covered by patents issued in 2006, 2008 and 2014 that are now owned by Serta Simmons Bedding.

According to the 43-page complaint, the support characteristics of a foam mattress can be altered by inserting “reinforcements of various types” into channels that are cut into the layers of foam. SSB contends that Casper’s Wave includes such channels, and says the construction feature is promoted heavily in Casper’s advertising and on its website.

The complaint says channels are cut into a layer of high-resiliency foam near the bottom of the Casper mattress and strips of “elastic polymer” are inserted into the channels to provide more support.

“In the few weeks that have passed since it was first announced, the Casper Wave mattress has received significant publicity,” the complaint reads. “Much of the publicity relating to the Casper Wave mattress focuses on Casper’s use of the Serta Simmons Channel Cut Technology.”

A spokeswoman for Casper said the company had no comment on the suit.

SSB is asking the court for preliminary and permanent injunctions prohibiting Casper from infringing on the patents, and is seeking unspecified damages and royalties from the company.

Casper is believed to be the largest of the online “bed-in-a-box” companies that have been aggressively marketing their products in recent years.

In the suit, SSB said it believes Casper, which was launched in the spring of 2014, had revenues of $200 million in 2016. 

SSB said it believes the Casper Wave is being produced for Casper by Jeffco Fibres of Webster, Mass. According to the company’s website, Jeffco is a family-owned foam fabricator and producer of mattresses, pillows, mattress toppers and other sleep products.