Sunglass Settlement

Oakley Inc. (Foothill Ranch, Calif.) announced that it has settled two previously announced patent and intellectual property lawsuits pending against Luxottica Group S.p.A. (Milan) and its subsidiaries, Sunglass Hut, LensCrafters, Ray Ban Sun Optics, Arnette and Revo, regarding claims by Oakley for infringement of certain intellectual property rights.

As part of the settlement, neither party admitted to any wrongdoing in either case, and all claims and counterclaims were released and dismissed. The preliminary injunction that Oakley obtained in one of the cases against Luxottica's subsidiary Sunglass Hut is being dissolved.

Oakley will continue to use its patented XYZ Optics in its twin lens sunglasses and Luxottica will be free to use an agreed upon alternative method of optical correction for its sunglass products. Oakley will continue to maintain litigations for infringement of its XYZ Sunglass Optic Patents against other companies.

“This settlement eliminates one of the potential obstacles to the continued development of a strong commercial relationship between two leaders in the sunglass category,” says Jim Jannard, Oakley's chairman and ceo.