Mar 24, 2014 PORTLAND, MAINE – VisionMaster, Inc., a worldwide provider of 3D non-contact sensor systems, today announced that it has filed a civil lawsuit in Cumberland County Superior Court against ASC, International, of Medina, MN, to recover damages and to enjoin ASC from manufacturing and distributing counterfeit VisionMaster systems and other SPI systems based on pirated VisionMaster technology. The alleged pirated products are all 3D non-contact sensor systems sold by ASC since 2010, including those sold under both VisionMaster and VisionPro labels.
The suit alleges that ASC engaged in Unfair Competition and Deceptive Trade Practices. The lawsuit seeks damages, an injunction and other remedies.
This action relates to unlawful conduct concerning VisionMaster’s proprietary structured light scanning technology by VisionMaster's former master distributor. ASC was the authorized distributor of VisionMaster's Solder-Paste Inspection (SPI) products from 1998 till 2010, and contractually had a non-compete clause stating they would refrain from developing or manufacturing structured light scanning technology for five years after the relationship ended. Without interruption, ASC went from selling authorized VisionMaster SPI systems to selling counterfeit systems. ASC is alleged to have illegally copied VisionMaster’s proprietary hardware and software and to have subsequently sold it to numerous customers under both the VisionMaster and VisionPro labels.
“VisionMaster strongly believes in the value of IP, and takes protecting trade secrets seriously,” said Allegra McNeally, executive director at VisionMaster. “We will not allow any competitor who steals our trade secrets and infringes on our Registered trademark, good name and reputation to evade the consequences of clear, long-standing fair trade laws. We will not hesitate to protect our intellectual property and are aggressively pursuing all legal remedies available to us.”
Customers who have purchased a counterfeit product receive inferior and/or older technology, which does not work as well as genuine VisionMaster products. Many copies of hardware products such as the long-discontinued VisionMaster VM150 have been found and are frequently defective. Customers who can check the authenticity of their VisionMaster Solder-Paste Inspection system by entering the serial numbers on a special page set up on VisionMaster's website: http://www.visionmasterinc.com/index.php/authentication.
About VisionMaster
Established in 1996, VisionMaster is a privately held company that focuses on the most efficient, effective engineering to ensure the highest quality products. Focusing on R&D, VisionMaster has made strategic investments so that the company has the capacity to create custom components, which results in superior specs while lowering its – and it customers’ – costs. Every aspect of the M500 and A500 have been completely re-engineered, and the results show it. For more information, visit www.visionmasterinc.com.
