Midland Park, NJ – Hafco, the original creators and inventors of the 55-gallon barrel Rock Duster, is pleased to announce that it has won the patent infringement case levied upon GMS Mine Repair and Maintenance Inc as of June 17, 2017 and has been awarded the wished fees in damages.
The United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia heard Hafco v. GMS, a challenge of patent infringement upon Hafco’s Rock Duster, which has been used in coal mines, making them safer and more compliant since 2011.
GMS was originally Hafco’s exclusive distributor of the patented Rock Duster. After the end of their distribution agreement, GMS began to produce a low-quality replica of the original Hafco Rock Duster.
“When we learned the GMS was building their own Rock Dusters, we felt insulted, as well as deceived. As our former distributor, they had full access to our product, all of our customers, and full knowledge of the patent that we were awarded by the United States Patent Office. Our family designed, developed, prototyped, and extensively tested this project fully from the ground up, and it was blatantly stolen from us” said Billy Fornaci, Co-President and Chief Engineer at Hafco.
In May of 2017, after producing rock dusters for 18 months, GMS was convicted by a jury of eight of willful patent infringement.
Hafco originally sought to recover lost profits resulting from GMS’ infringement of their Design Patent, from April 20, 2015 to present. When the verdict was issued, Hafco was awarded a sum of $123,650.
Although the case is still in the post-trial motion procedures, Hafco is eager to put this case to rest and reinvest its awarded sum back into the family business.
Hafco is an industry-leading manufacturer of Pneumatic Barrel Dusters since 2011. They continue to provide their versatile and safe product to coal mines all over the United States, as well as Canada.