A late-January ruling in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California invalidated 47 claims of alleged infringement on three patents for rapid-setting cement
Sources: CTS Cement Manufacturing, Cypress, Calif.; CP staff
A late-January ruling in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California invalidated 47 claims of alleged infringement on three patents for rapid-setting cement. Closing a suit filed in June 2002, Judge Alicemarie Stotler found that defendant CTS Cement had not infringed patents held by Hassan Kunbargi and his company, Ultimax Corp., and co-plaintiff Heartland Cement Sales. Judge Stotler also granted the defendant recovery of costs incurred in the suit.
CTS Cement markets Rapid Set Cement in bagged and bulk form for high early strength concrete applications, plus companion Type K cement and packaged mortar, repair, stucco and dry mix products. It holds the industry’s original technology–dating to 1960–for high early strength cement, and has processing and packaging operations in California, Missouri, Pennsylvania and Mexico.
Garden Grove, Calif.-based Ultimax Corp. cites four patents for rapid-strength cement. It markets a line of bagged products that includes Ultimax Cement, a blended hydraulic cement achieving 4,000 psi in one hour, and Quix, a similarly milled powder that can be used as a mineral additive to impart low shrinkage or reduced permeability in finished slabs and structures. Ultimax Corp. licenses production to Buzzi Unicem USA’s Independence, Mo., mill–formerly Heartland Cement.