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U.S. Craft Company Nails a Counterfeiter

Court rules in MagEyes favor. 

By Mike Hartnett (February 7, 2005)

Note: MagEyes is a U.S. manufacturer of a variety of hands-free products to enable crafters to see more clearly and therefore complete their projects more easily. To see the company's products, visit www.mageyes.com. The company will also be exhibiting at the CHA show. Recently MagEyes, founded in 1992 by Mary Frances Sherlock, went to court to protect her patents and copyrights. The result is this press release.)

MagEyes, Inc. v. Siya, Inc. d/b/a Sona Enterprises, et al. Case No. 03-5951-GHK (PLAx); U.S. District Court, Central District of California, Western Division (2003 – ongoing)

The seizure of over a thousand headband magnifiers and hundreds of documents was successfully conducted by the U.S. Marshals Service of Los Angeles, California and local private investigators after Judge Lourdes G. Baird (sitting for Judge George H. King) of the Central district of California, Western Division, granted and ex parte TRO and seizure order for MagEyes, Inc. of Texas under the Lanham Act trademark statute. The underlying Complaint also included causes of action for patent and copyright infringement for two of MagEyes’ utility patents and three of MagEyes’ U.S. copyrights. Judge King subsequently entered a Preliminary Injunction against the defendants for MagEyes’ patents, trademarks, trade dress and copyrights.

Mediation supervised by Judge Dickran Tevrizian of the C.D.Ca. resulted in an Agreement in principle between the parties for damages for infringement of MagEyes’ patents, trademarks, trade dress and copyrights, a Permanent Injunction and an entitlement to an award of MagEyes’ reasonable attorneys’ fees.

Since 1992, MagEyes, Inc., a U.S. Manufacturer, has consistently manufactured high quality headband magnifiers for crafters, hobbyists, jewelers, professionals, seamstresses, and anyone needing vision enhancement for fine detail work or reading. MagEyes also manufactures the highest quality acrylic lenses for their MagEyes, MagEyes Plus, ESD MagEyes and HatEyes magnifiers. MagEyes, Inc. products are manufactured and assembled completely in U.S.A. and this has enabled strict quality control in all aspects of production on the various products to ensure a high quality product at a reasonable price for consumers. MagEyes products are available in retail outlets and catalogs nationally and internationally. All MagEyes products and retailers may be viewed on their website at www.mageyes.com.

"Since the conception of these innovative magnifiers, MagEyes, Inc. has taken the steps necessary to protect the investments it has made in research and development through intellectual property protection including patent, trademark, trade dress and copyright protection. MagEyes, Inc. asks those in the industry to respect MagEyes’ intellectual property. We are serious about enforcing our intellectual property rights," noted Mary Frances Sherlock, Pres./Owner of MagEyes, Inc.

(Note: To read previous articles devoted to legal issues that affect our industry, click on the titles in the right-hand column.)

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