Ruud Lighting Inc. has settled a copyright infringement lawsuit against Elcast Lighting Inc. (Addison, Ill.). Ruud alleged that Elcast illegally distributed promotional sales brochures containing large portions of BetaLED copyrighted works, including copying a registered brand (The Edge) to customers and reps.

“Copyright and patent infringement is something we take very seriously
and enforce not only to protect our own assets, but to protect buyers
from receiving misleading messages by companies vying to get into the
LED luminaire business,” said Ruud Lighting president Christopher Ruud.

The defendant agreed to pay undisclosed damages to Ruud Lighting and adopt compliant business practices going forward.

“This is an example of a company trying to jump on the bandwagon by
stealing marketing materials and falsely attributing those claims to
products that don’t even have the same features,” added Christopher
Ruud. “It’s an unfortunate situation for the industry, as products with
proven performance do exist and are being adopted around the world.
It’s essential to safeguard consumers against false claims, so that
informed buying decisions can be made. BetaLED is doing its part to
protect buyers and show how to properly evaluate LED products.”

In the settlement, Elcast reps agreed to cease and desist, and will
comply with a permanent injunction prohibiting further copying, use or
distribution of sales and marketing materials that infringe on Ruud
Lighting’s copyrighted works.

CLICK HERE for BetaLED, a division of Ruud Lighting.