Culp Settles Copyright Dispute
April 9, 2009
HIGH POINT, North Carolina – Culp, Inc. (NYSE: CFI) has reached a resolution of its copyright infringement dispute against SRA, LLC d/b/a SRA FABRICS ("SRA"), concerning allegations that SRA infringed upon Culp's "Congo" fabric design, a faux leather product.
A cash settlement was paid to Culp by SRA but the amount was not disclosed.
The copy of the SRA fabric was known as Viper and is to be pulled off market. Culp's Congo design is protected by U.S. copyright laws and is registered with the U.S. Copyright Office. As part of the settlement, SRA, based in New York, has agreed not to reproduce, manufacture, order, distribute, display, offer for sale or sell the Viper fabric or any fabric with the same or substantially similar design as Culp's copyrighted Congo design.
"By winning this dispute, we are moving forward against other copies of our products," said Rob Culp, Chairman. "With this successful defense of our design property, we are putting other importers on notice that we will vigorously defend against any and all copies of our products going forward."
Congo is part of a family of faux leather products manufactured overseas by Culp and then imported into the United States. "We have seen many copies of our designs in the past and the importers thought they were copying commodity products," said Liam Waters, vice president of design and marketing for Culp. "Once we began copyrighting this family of designs three years ago, we put the world on notice that we would protect our designs and intellectual property," Waters stated.
"Culp has invested a great deal of resources into creating unique fabric designs, and we intend to protect our investment, reputation, and goodwill by aggressively pursuing all forms of copyright infringement," commented Frank Saxon, president and chief executive officer of Culp.
He said that protecting Culp's copyrighted designs benefits not only Culp, but also "our valued customers and our industry as a whole."
"We believe that Culp's rights as a designer and producer of innovative fabrics should be respected in the marketplace by everyone, including SRA. We are pleased that we could resolve this dispute on favorable terms for Culp."
"Our industry has always been driven by innovation, creativity, design and color," added Waters. "Culp has invested heavily in all of these areas and we have received a great deal of credit from our loyal customers. It is therefore in our best interest, as well as our customers', that we defend our intellectual property to the full letter of the law. We appreciate that SRA has agreed to stop its activities with respect to the Viper fabric."
Culp, Inc. is one of the world's largest converters and marketers of mattress fabrics for bedding and upholstery fabrics for furniture. The company's fabrics are used principally in the production of bedding products and residential and commercial upholstered furniture.
A cash settlement was paid to Culp by SRA but the amount was not disclosed.
The copy of the SRA fabric was known as Viper and is to be pulled off market. Culp's Congo design is protected by U.S. copyright laws and is registered with the U.S. Copyright Office. As part of the settlement, SRA, based in New York, has agreed not to reproduce, manufacture, order, distribute, display, offer for sale or sell the Viper fabric or any fabric with the same or substantially similar design as Culp's copyrighted Congo design.
"By winning this dispute, we are moving forward against other copies of our products," said Rob Culp, Chairman. "With this successful defense of our design property, we are putting other importers on notice that we will vigorously defend against any and all copies of our products going forward."
Congo is part of a family of faux leather products manufactured overseas by Culp and then imported into the United States. "We have seen many copies of our designs in the past and the importers thought they were copying commodity products," said Liam Waters, vice president of design and marketing for Culp. "Once we began copyrighting this family of designs three years ago, we put the world on notice that we would protect our designs and intellectual property," Waters stated.
"Culp has invested a great deal of resources into creating unique fabric designs, and we intend to protect our investment, reputation, and goodwill by aggressively pursuing all forms of copyright infringement," commented Frank Saxon, president and chief executive officer of Culp.
He said that protecting Culp's copyrighted designs benefits not only Culp, but also "our valued customers and our industry as a whole."
"We believe that Culp's rights as a designer and producer of innovative fabrics should be respected in the marketplace by everyone, including SRA. We are pleased that we could resolve this dispute on favorable terms for Culp."
"Our industry has always been driven by innovation, creativity, design and color," added Waters. "Culp has invested heavily in all of these areas and we have received a great deal of credit from our loyal customers. It is therefore in our best interest, as well as our customers', that we defend our intellectual property to the full letter of the law. We appreciate that SRA has agreed to stop its activities with respect to the Viper fabric."
Culp, Inc. is one of the world's largest converters and marketers of mattress fabrics for bedding and upholstery fabrics for furniture. The company's fabrics are used principally in the production of bedding products and residential and commercial upholstered furniture.
