Contact Information: CONTACT: OurPet's Company Dr. Steven Tsengas (440) 354-6500 (Ext. 111) or INVESTOR RELATIONS: SM Berger & Company, Inc. Andrew Berger (216) 464-6400
OurPet's Responds to Patent Infringement Lawsuit Filed by Applica
| Source: OurPet's
FAIRPORT HARBOR, OH--(Marketwire - January 23, 2008) - OurPet's Company (OTCBB : OPCO ), a
growing designer, developer, producer, and marketer of accessory and
consumable pet products (www.ourpets.com), reported a lawsuit has been
filed against OurPet's by Applica Consumer Products, Inc. ("Applica"). The
lawsuit alleges that OurPet's infringed on one or more of Applica's patents
covering their automated self-cleaning litter box, which OurPet's believes
is unmerited.
Dr. Steven Tsengas, PhD, President and CEO, stated, "We are disappointed
that Applica has chosen to file a lawsuit against OurPet's, as related to
our SmartScoop™ Self-Scooping Cat Litter Box (www.smartscoop.com), which
we successfully launched last year. Our SmartScoop® product has years of
research and development behind it, in addition to numerous patents
(pending) that were developed for it. We do not feel that our
SmartScoop® product is infringing the Applica patents and have obtained
an independent opinion letter from Fay Sharpe, L.L.P., a well respected
intellectual property law firm, who supports our position. While we hope
this matter will be resolved soon, we are preparing to defend our product
and pending patents diligently."
About OurPet's Company:
OurPet's designs, produces and markets a broad line of innovative,
high-quality accessory and consumable pet products in the U.S. and
overseas. The SmartScoop® product line offers the most complete solution
to cat waste and odor control and includes the SmartScoop© Self-Scooping
Litter Box (patent pending), activated carbon filters, no-touch waste bags,
litter box ramps (patent pending), no-stick litter box sprays (patent
pending), odor control litter box sprays and Scoop-N-Sift (patented).
Investors and customers may visit www.ourpets.com for more information
about the Company and its products.
Certain of the matters set forth in this press release are forward-looking
and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Among the factors that
could cause actual results to differ materially are the following: business
conditions and growth in the industry; general economic conditions;
addition or loss of significant customers; the loss of key personnel;
product development; competition; risks of doing business abroad; foreign
government regulations; fluctuations in foreign rates; rising costs for raw
materials and the unavailability of sources of supply; the timing of orders
booked; and the other risks that are described from time to time in
OurPet's SEC reports.