Thursday, February 10, 2000
P&G sues competitor over its fabric freshener patents
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Procter & Gamble has filed a patent-infringement lawsuit against rival Reckitt & Colman seeking undisclosed monetary damages and a court order directing Reckitt to remove its Resolve Fabric Refresher from store shelves.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati, alleges that Resolve uses the same patented formulation that P&G developed for its Febreze fabric freshener.
Febreze, introduced in the Unit ed States in May 1998, racked up $200 million in sales in its first year and is now sold in more than 16 countries, P&G said.
But the product faces stiff competition from Resolve and Clorox Co.'s FreshCare Fabric Refresher. P&G claims that product also infringes upon patents protecting Febreze.
P&G slapped Clorox with a patent-infringement lawsuit in July. That lawsuit is moving ahead to trial, a P&G spokesman said.
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