Jan 31, 2024   SOURCE: BusinessWire

Prolitec Prevails in Lawsuit with ScentAir

Last week in Wilmington, DE, Prolitec Inc. and ScentAir Technologies, LLC squared off in front of an eight-person jury, in federal court. Prolitec had accused the ScentAir’s ScentBreeze product of infringing six claims from two of its patents - four of which focused on minimizing fragrance oil leaks – that describe some of the innovations of the Aera (aeraforhome.com) consumer product line.

ScentAir’s SVP of Marketing and Products, Logan Andres, testified that ScentAir’s ScentBreeze product had “issues on leaking” and that ScentAir got “lots of complaints from salespeople and customers” on both leaks and noise. ScentAir’s counsel, Mr. Vincent Galluzzo, emphasized the point saying during his closing argument that the ScentBreeze “leaked like a faucet.” Mr. Andres testified that ScentAir discontinued the Breeze in the United States in October 2022. But despite all the problems with the ScentBreeze, ScentAir continues to sell the Breeze internationally.

While the jury found no infringement of Prolitec’s six asserted patent claims, they also concluded that all six claims were valid. “We didn’t come away with the reasonable royalty we had sought, but we did reaffirm critical intellectual property that we will continue to defend against unauthorized use,” said Prolitec EVP and COO Matt Ansley. “We’ve forced ScentAir to fall back on their new Whisper product, which uses the same, inferior, dry media technology of the ScentWave that they tried to leave behind by launching the ScentBreeze.”

In seeking to invalidate Prolitec’s patents, ScentAir’s hired expert, Timothy Morse, offered opinions that lacked any scientific reliability. ScentAir’s expert opined that ScentAir’s own ScentDirect product provided the leak resistance benefits called for in the asserted patent claims. On cross-examination, Prolitec’s counsel, Marc Levy of Seed IP Law Group, got ScentAir’s expert to admit that he “didn’t do any testing” of the alleged prior art and that he just “did it in his head.” Prolitec’s expert, Professor Marcus Hultmark of Princeton University, testified that if one of his researchers came to him with Mr. Morse’s opinion, he would be “disappointed” and that he “would really expect some experimental evidence.”