Ohio court rules in favor of DENIS CIMAF

Morbark LLC of Winn, Michigan, and its wholly-owned subsidiary, DENIS CIMAF Inc. of Roxton Falls, Québec, have announced that the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio has ruled in DENIS CIMAF’s favor.

The court issued an order on claim construction in the company’s favor in the matter of DENIS CIMAF Inc. v. Fecon Inc. DENIS CIMAF, prior to its 2018 acquisition by Morbark LLC, filed this litigation in December 2017, alleging that Fecon Inc.’s brush cutting heads and protective guards infringe DENIS CIMAF’s U.S. Patent No. 6,764,035. 

The parties disputed the meaning of four claim terms, and after submitting briefs in support of their proposed claim constructions, the court held a claim construction hearing on March 19, 2019.  The order issued by the court adopts DENIS CIMAF’s positions on all four of the disputed claim terms, finding that no construction is needed for three of the terms and adopting DENIS CIMAF’s proposed construction for the fourth term as consistent with the plain and ordinary meaning of the claim language.

“DENIS CIMAF Inc.’s founder, Laurent Denis, was a pioneer in the unique design of the cutting head technology outlined in the patent and used to protect and extend the life of the cutting tool,” notes David A. Herr, the CEO of Morbark, in a news release. “It was this entrepreneurial spirit, innovation and pride in its industry-leading products that attracted us to DENIS CIMAF, and we will continue this action against Fecon Inc., as well as aggressively pursue all other offending parties to protect our intellectual property.”

Morbark has been manufacturing equipment for more than 60 years. The company and its affiliate brands, Rayco, DENIS CIMAF and Boxer Equipment, produce a full line of brush chippers, stump cutters, mini skid steers, forestry mulchers, aerial trimmers, whole tree and biomass chippers, flails, horizontal and tub grinders, sawmill equipment, material handling systems and mulcher head attachments for excavators, backhoes and skid steers.