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Trent West sues other tungsten manufacturers

By Beth Braverman
April 04, 2007

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San Francisco—Trent West, owner of tungsten-jewelry manufacturer TrewTungsten, has filed suit against four manufacturers alleging that they have infringed on his patent for tungsten carbide rings, court papers say.

The suit, filed on Friday in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California, names as defendants: Jewelry Innovations of Midvale, Utah; Benchmark Rings of Tuscaloosa, Ala.; Tungsten Magnum of Bloomington, Minn.; Infinity Rings of Orem, Utah; and Crown Ring of Montreal.

The suit states that West sold his original tungsten carbide ring in 1999 and subsequently patented the process of making tungsten carbide rings, obtaining seven patents for his innovations in the use of tungsten carbide for jewelry rings.

"Despite industry-wide recognition that Trent West invented the tungsten carbide jewelry-ring market, and despite U.S. patents protecting Mr. West's inventor's rights, [the] defendants named herein have chosen to infringe on his tungsten carbide jewelry-ring patent," the suit claims.

West seeks unspecified damages and asks that the courts restrain the defendants from continuing to produce tungsten carbide rings.

Representatives from Jewelry Innovations, Benchmark Rings, Infinity Rings and Crown Ring did not immediately return calls for comment on the lawsuit. Another company says it disputes the allegations in the suit.

"We have done our homework on this, and we are very confident that Mr. West's lawsuit is baseless," says Bill Reilly, president of Northstar Diamond, which owns Tungsten Magnum told National Jeweler. "We are very confident that we do not infringe on Mr. West's patents."
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