Flexi-Coil is facing the financial music after exhausting its appeals of a court ruling that found the company guilty of copying technology patented by rival Bourgault Industries.
The ruling means more to Bourgault than any money it can get from Flexi-Coil.
“For our company it’s vital that we protect our technology,” said Bourgault president Gerry Bourgault.
He said winning this case, winning the appeal and surviving the appeal to the Supreme Court has made him confident that patented farm innovations can be protected legally.
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On March 23 the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear Flexi-Coil’s appeal of a Saskatchewan Court of Appeal ruling that upheld Bourgault’s victory at the original patent trial.
Now Flexi-Coil and Bourgault have to either sit down and work out a deal between themselves, or take the matter to court so a judge can decide damages.
If the case goes to court, Bourgault can ask for either the profits Flexi-Coil made by copying its patented technology, or for damages the company suffered because of losing exclusive loss of the technology.
The dispute arose in the late 1980s. In 1988 Bourgault invented a modified coil-type packer bar that allowed for one-pass seeding with wide seed dispersal by large airseeders.
Flexi-Coil soon came out with a similar design.
Bourgault warned Flexi-Coil not to use the packer bar design. It received a patent in 1990.
In 1995 the matter first went to court.
Neither company now extensively uses the packer bar design. Both Flexi-Coil and Bourgault estimate less than five percent of their sales involve coil-type packer bars, as manufacturers and farmers have moved into on-row packing and mid-row banding.
Darrel Schindel of Flexi-Coil said settling the matter will have only a “minor impact” on the company’s finances. He said the company is keen to clear the slate with Bourgault.
“Our goal here is to work with Bourgault to reach a settlement,” said Schindel.
Bourgault is still suing Flexi-Coil over another patented technology. That dispute arose even earlier than the packer bar dispute, but has not yet gone to trial.
Gerry Bourgault said the packer bar case cost the company about $500,000 in legal fees, but it has been worth it.
“Now we’ll be more aggressive in protecting our technology,” he said.
