On Friday, Carnegie Institution of Washington and M7D—the legal name of WD Lab Grown Diamonds—dismissed their patent infringement suit against ALTR Created Diamonds and parent company R.A. Riam.
The case, originally filed in January in New York federal court, was dismissed without prejudice, leaving open the possibility it could be refiled.
ALTR declined comment.WD chief executive officer Sue Rechner tells JCK via email, “We can’t comment on ongoing legal matters. We will certainly reach out as soon as we are able to share any information on the situation.”
The case was one of three suits that WD filed last month. At press time, Carnegie Institution and WD still had cases pending against two other pairs of lab-grown diamond companies: Pure Grown Diamonds and sister company IIa Technologies, based in Singapore; and Fenix Diamonds and owner Mahendra Brothers, based in Mumbai, India. Those complaints can be seen here and here.
Like its now-dismissed case against ALTR, the suits charge those companies with infringing on Carnegie’s patents for growing diamonds with the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method and treating the diamonds after they are grown. M7D has licensed growing and treating technology from the Carnegie Institution since 2011.
At press time, the other cases have not been dismissed, and the defendants have not responded to the complaints.
On Tuesday, Pure Grown and IIa’s attorneys filed a corporate disclosure statement, saying that Pure Grown’s corporate parent is Iron Gate Property Limited Inc., which, according to public records, is based in Panama. IIa Technologies’ corporate parent is Spring Field Group Limited B.V., which records say is based in Curaçao.
Its attorneys did not return a request for comment.
Last month, a Singapore court ruled that IIa Technologies had violated a diamond-growing patent held by De Beers–owned industrial diamond producer Element Six. It also revoked one of Element Six’s patents for treating lab-grown diamonds with the high pressure, high temperature method.
Both parties say they are exploring their options and whether to appeal. IIa has denied any infringement.
On Feb. 20, De Beers CEO Bruce Cleaver told JCK: “We have similar patents in the United States. We are now going through a range of options of what we will do in the United States. That is a potential story coming up.”
(Image courtesy of ALTR Created Diamonds)
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