Costa Mesa Firm Wins Patent Defense Ruling

SANTA ANA —  A small Orange County manufacturer of automotive traction systems has won a court order blocking industry giant Titan Wheel International from marketing a competing product and requiring Titan to recall the product from its distributors pending a trial on a patent claim.

Vehicular Technologies Inc., a 3-year-old Costa Mesa developer and manufacturer of a system to maximize power to the drive-wheels of a vehicle, is suing Titan and several subsidiaries for patent infringement. Trial is scheduled for Feb. 4 in federal court in Santa Ana.

Mark Tyson, VTI’s president, said the preliminary injunction was a major victory because courts rarely require the recall of products allegedly infringing a patent before a case is decided. Officials at Titan could not be reached.

Some patent rights attorneys agreed Thursday that VTI had won a significant victory. “It’s very difficult just to get a preliminary injunction, and I’m not aware of any recalls in this type of case,” said Richard Gausewitz, senior partner in the Irvine office of Poms, Smith, Lande & Rose.

Courts have been reluctant to issue injunctions and other pretrial sanctions, Gausewitz and other patent lawyers said, because prohibiting a business from selling its products before the case is decided is seen as a draconian measure.

VTI makes and markets systems that lock the drive gears in automotive differentials so that equal and maximum power is transmitted to each wheel. The company sued Illinois-based Titan Wheel after Titan’s Dyneer/Tractech subsidiary introduced a competing product early this year.

Tyson said that his marketing studies show a potential U.S. market of $300 million for the differential locking system by the end of the decade, with VTI taking a $50-million share.

VTI sells its product as the Powertrax Lock-Right while Titan’s Tractech unit markets the E-Z Locker. The products are sold to vehicle manufacturers for installation as original equipment and to retailers and repair shops for aftermarket installation.