Keeping your cool in court
Asetek, a CPU and GPU cooling company, has won another legal victory against Cooler Master's CMI subsidiary. It's the second win for Asetek in less than two years.
A bit of background information is in order. Back in January 2013, Asetek filed a lawsuit against CMI USA, a subsidiary of Cooler Master, claiming that the company infringed on two of its patents. Asetek sought a cease and desist order on the sale of Cooler Master's Seidon 120M, 120XL ,and 240M liquid cooling systems on the basis that the pumps were too similar to its own design.
In late 2014, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California sided with Asetek and awarded the company $404,841, which amounted to a 14.5 percent royalty rate for infringing sales dating back to 2012. The cease and desist request was to be determined at a later date.
Fast forward to today and Asetek is once again on the winning side of this legal dispute. In a post trial motion, CMI demanded a judgement as a matter of law, which is a motion claiming the opposing party lacks sufficient evidence to reasonably support its case, and requested a new trial.
The court denied CMI's demands and instead issued the injunction that Asetek wanted. CMI and Cooler Master are now barred from selling "certain infringing products into the United States," which presumably include the aforementioned coolers.
In addition, a judge increased Asetek's damages award by raising the royalty rate to 25.375 percent. The enhanced royalty applies to CMI's revenues for sales of infringing products made since January 1, 2015.
This is good news for Asetek, though the legal battle might not be over -- Asetek's notes that the case can be appealed.
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