Patent ruling issued against Olathe-based Garmin International

The U.S. International Trade Commission has ruled in favor of a Norwegian company in a patent dispute involving sonar scanning technology with Garmin International Inc.

Navico, based in Egersund, Norway, said Wednesday that the ITC ruling last week reversed an earlier decision in July by an administrative law judge that had favored Garmin, whose operating headquarters is in Olathe.

The dispute involved Garmin’s DownVu scanning sonar products, which the company said were “too similar to at least one patented aspect” of Navico’s marine technology.

Navico said it offered competitors “the opportunity to license our technology and incorporate it into their products … and many have. This offer was also made to Garmin, but they declined.”

Garmin said Wednesday it will appeal the commission ruling.

“Garmin intentionally designed its products to prevent infringement of Navico’s patent,” Andrew Etkind, Garmin’s vice president and general counsel, said in a statement.

The company said it has already “designed, implemented and manufactured an alternative design that addresses the issues in the ITC ruling.” It also said the ruling will have no impact on sonar scanning products already purchased by customers and dealers, or on any products going forward.

This story was originally published December 9, 2015 at 12:01 PM with the headline "Patent ruling issued against Olathe-based Garmin International ."