Garmin To Appeal ITC Judgment On SideVü Scanning Sonar Product Patent

(RTTNews) - Garmin International Inc., a unit of Garmin Ltd. (GRMN), today announced that the International Trade Commission or ITC issued a final determination in the investigation brought by Johnson Outdoors, Inc. against Garmin. The ITC concluded that first generation Garmin SideVüTM scanning sonar products were too similar to some claims of one of the three patents asserted by Johnson Outdoors.

The ITC ordered that these Garmin products be excluded from import into the United States; however, the ITC is allowing Garmin to freely import these products temporarily and further recommended that Garmin be allowed to freely import modified products permanently. The ITC found that Garmin did not infringe Johnson Outdoors' two other patents.

"Garmin disagrees with the ITC and plans to appeal the determination. Nevertheless, we do not expect the ruling to have any impact on Garmin customers or products. Garmin has already modified our software to address the ITC's ruling, and we are ready to ship those products today. The ruling will have no impact on Garmin products already purchased by our customers and dealers, or any products purchased going forward," said Andrew Etkind, Garmin vice president and general counsel.

Garmin SideVü scanning sonar products are available now with the redesigned software. While the redesign does address the ITC's findings, end-users and dealers will not notice a change to installation or compatibility with existing Garmin products or accessories. No action is necessary for dealers with existing inventory.