TheBuzz
TheBuzz
Local fins win
in high courtA self-described mom and pop business on Kuahao Place in Pearl City has prevailed against a large Australian company in the Supreme Court of the United States.
"I've been called the David and Goliath story," said David Skedeleski, president of SurfCo Hawaii.
The Supreme Court patent infringement case is the "end of a very long story," he said.
It began in 1991 when Skedeleski's then-14-year-old son's leg was cut by a fin while surfing off Waimanalo.
"That motivated me to develop and produce Pro Teck surf fins, skegs with urethane trailing and leading edges," for replaceable fin systems on surfboards, he said. The product would provide a safety element similar to the nose guards and diamond tips the company developed and sells worldwide.
SurfCo entered into a verbal agreement to collaborate on the product with FCS, a unit of Australia-based Surf Hardware International, so Skedeleski began development. Later, FCS was "very hesitant about selling the product ... they really wanted me to turn over the whole project to them," he said.
SurfCo patent attorney Bob Vanderhyde of Washington, D.C., asserted the company's right to sell the Pro Teck fins as a replacement product around the United States, Skedeleski said, but FCS sued.
Officials of FCS in Australia did not return phone calls.
SurfCo lost its first round in U.S. District Court in Honolulu. The February 2000 ruling by federal judge Samuel King Sr. was later overturned by the U.S. Court of Appeals; that ruling was upheld by the Supreme Court last month when it rejected an appeal by FCS.
King's ruling had forced SurfCo to take the product off the market until the next ruling went in the company's favor.
Skedeleski called the lengthy and expensive court battle unfortunate but necessary.
"The real winners in this victory are the surfers who can now purchase (our fins) for any removable fin system," he said.
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin.
Call 529-4302, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle,
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210,
Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached
at: eengle@starbulletin.com