The ruling
The Düsseldorf District Court ruled that LELO’s “Sona,” “Sila,” and “Enigma” infringe on the patents of the EIS GmbH company. These patents are primarily utilized in EIS’s “Satisfyer” pressure wave vibrators, and as a result of the current ruling, LELO will cease distributing the above three products within Düsseldorf District Court jurisdiction. Furthermore, LELO will provide EIS information about all distributed products bearing those patents and who bought them.
LELO is also charged with paying damages for distributing the patent-infringed products.
Some history
Back in October of last year, the European Patent Office rejected opposition filed by LELO Europe GmbH against the patent. LELOi AB is presently undergoing legal proceedings pending in Sweden, Australia, and Canada, to name but a few places.
LELO has appealed both the decision of the European Patent Office and the Düsseldorf District Court.
The sex toy market
With an unprecedented predicted growth from the middle of the last decade to the beginning of the next, the global retail market soon to be approaching a 50 million dollar mark; ever safer materials being used in adult sex aids and sex toy construction; power supply and power sources more easily accessed; the increasing ease (convenience and anonymity leading the way here) of web-shopping, and the lessening of stigma through the years from mainstream media champions like Dr. Ruth to sex toy adds in magazines and appearance on TV shows, vibrators, Ben Wa balls, strap-ons and all manner of fun bed-play items are a well-recognized, popular part of the current world culture. And with this modern popularity, when well-known companies engender legal hassles, the cases are quite visible to the public at large.
