Lawler Files Suit Against Bradley over Thermostatic Mixing Valve Technology
Lawler Mfg. has filed a lawsuit against Bradley Corp. and a former Lawler employee alleging patent infringement issues related to Lawler’s 911 thermostatic mixing valve technology. According to the suit, “In early 1996, when Bradley realized that the new ANSI standard was proposed and that it had no product that would meet the new standard in its likely final form, that it had no thermostatic mixing valves for that matter intended for emergency applications, and that its attempts to acquire Lawler had failed, Bradley initiated plans to misappropriate Lawler’s thermostatic mixing valve technology by hiring away the sole or joint inventor in each of the Lawler patents, and using Lawler’s confidential and proprietary information and technologies in violation of the confidentiality agreements executed between Bradley and Lawler.”
The suit also alleges that “Bradley is not the rightful owner of any patent applications covering the accused products or any of the technologies, designs or concepts embodied in the accused products.” Currently, the accused products are marketed by Bradley as the Navigator series of thermostatic mixing valves for emergency applications.