PopSockets Successfully Defends Its Patent Against Competitor Challenge

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Jan 15, 2020, 09:04 ET

BOULDER, Colo., Jan. 15, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- On November 18, 2019, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) denied a bid by Quest USA Corp., maker of SpinPop™, to invalidate PopSockets' U.S. Patent No. 9,958,107. PopSockets sued Quest in the Eastern District of New York for patent infringement, prompting Quest's challenge.

This development follows the International Trade Commission's June 14, 2018 decision to grant PopSockets a General Exclusion Order. The GEO makes it illegal to import into the United States any products that infringe upon PopSockets' U.S. Patent No. 8,560,031. PopSockets' GEO remains in full force and effect.

After protracted litigation, Quest agreed to take a license to PopSockets' patents. The license ends a global dispute in which PopSockets' asserted intellectual property rights against Quest in several forums across the United States, the United Kingdom, and China.

About PopSockets
PopSockets was founded in 2010 by former philosophy professor David Barnett. Barnett was looking for a way to prevent his earbud cord from getting tangled, and he glued two buttons to the back of his phone and wrapped them around the buttons. In 2014, PopSockets was launched out of his garage in Boulder, Colorado and today has offices in Boulder, San Francisco, Hong Kong and Helsinki. More than 165 million PopSockets grips have been sold around the world. PopSockets exists to change the world for the better with innovative, magical products and community empowered activism. Products include the PopGrip, PopTop, PopWallet, PopThirst and PopMirror, all designed to increase the functionality of devices we use daily. In the fall of 2018, PopSockets premiered the Poptivism program—a charitable giving platform where customers create their own PopGrip designs and PopSockets donates 50% of the sale price to the customer's charity of choice. The brand has donated over $3 million dollars in cash and product to 300 nonprofit partners.

SOURCE PopSockets