polaris stops using arctic cats patented technology after being sued

In a battle of northwestern Minnesota neighbors, Arctic Cat Inc. announced in early November that it had dropped a lawsuit against Polaris Industries Inc. The suit alleged that Polaris infringed on Arctic Cat's innovative exhaust temperature ignition timing patent on high- performance engines used chiefly for snowmobile racing. Cat dismissed the suit after Polaris revealed it had discontinued use of Arctic Cat's technology in Polaris' racing snowmobiles.

"We sued Polaris to prevent it from selling racing snowmobiles that infringed our patent," said Chris Twomey, chairman and CEO of Arctic Cat. "Our pioneering technology provides a competitive advantage to our snowmobile racers. During the course of the litigation, Polaris revealed that it had stopped using Arctic Cat's patented technology in its racing snowmobiles. We conclude that Polaris stopped because the company knew it had infringed our patent. We achieved our goal, so we dismissed the lawsuit."

Continued top Cat Twomey: "Arctic Cat prides itself in leading innovation in the snowmobile industry. We will not tolerate anyone who copies our patented products and we will vigorously protect our intellectual property. Arctic Cat holds several patents that cover the exhaust temperature ignition timing technology found in the allegedly infringing snowmobiles. Should Polaris sell snowmobiles in the future using our technology, Arctic Cat will sue Polaris again."