Plaintiff

Contour Optik, Inc.

6 cases as plaintiff.

Cases
6
Active
0
6 closed
Filed
2009
Top venue
S.D. Florida
4 cases
Also appears as a defendant in 1 case → View as defendant

Company profile

Contour Optik, Inc. is a privately held Taiwanese eyewear manufacturer headquartered at 6 Industrial Fifth Road, Tou Chiau Industrial Park, Chiayi 621, Taiwan. Founded in 1978 by the late George Chao and now managed by his son David Chao, it remains family-owned and has not raised outside funding. Its HKTDC supplier listing reports 501–1,000 employees and annual turnover of US$10–50 million; a third-party patent database lists a far smaller headcount, so size figures are approximate. No public ticker or parent company is disclosed.

Products / operations. Contour designs, manufactures, and exports optical frames, sunglasses, and reading glasses, including OEM/turnkey production for other brands. It is known for magnetic clip-on eyewear, introduced in 1994, and states it holds more than 40 issued U.S. patents and over 120 international patents. Manufacturing is spread across Chiayi (R&D and assembly), Yingtan in Jiangxi province, Shenzhen and Dongguan in China, and a Philippines plant opened in 2023. This is an operating manufacturer, not a shell licensor.

Patent-litigation posture. The tracked data show 3 cases as plaintiff and 0 as defendant. All three were filed jointly with Aspex Eyewear, Inc., a Delaware corporation that acts as Contour's U.S. exclusive licensee and distributor; Aspex and Canada's Chic Optik are Ifergan-family companies. Contour is therefore an operating patent owner asserting its own magnetic-eyewear portfolio, not an NPE, and it is not a target of NPE suits. Venues were the District of Nevada, S.D.N.Y. (transferred to D. Mass.), and S.D. Fla.; none was filed in the Eastern District of Texas.

Notable cases. Aspex/Contour v. E'Lite Optik (D. Nev.) ended with Aspex dismissed for lack of standing as exclusive licensee (Fed. Cir. 2005), leaving Contour's claims. v. Altair Eyewear (S.D.N.Y.) produced summary judgment of non-infringement on the '054, '811, and '896 magnetic clip-on patents, affirmed in relevant part in 2008. v. Zenni Optical (S.D. Fla.) was affirmed at 713 F.3d 1377 (Fed. Cir. 2013), holding the Altair rulings collaterally estopped the Zenni suit.

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Aspex Eyewear, Inc. et al. v. E'Lite Optik, Inc.

judgment affirmed
Docket:
CV-S-00-1116-PMP; 2:00-cv-01116
Patents:60128115737054
π Aspex Eyewear, Inc.π Contour Optik, Inc.Δ E'Lite Optik, Inc.

Plaintiffs asserted the '811 patent (Count I). The district court granted summary judgment dismissing Aspex's claims for lack of standing as to the '054 and '811 patents; the Federal Circuit affirmed (04-1292), holding the '811 retaining mechanism was a means-plus-function limitation limited to rims.

Aspex Eyewear, Inc. et al. v. Altair Eyewear, Inc.

concluded
Docket:
7:02-cv-06195; 1:10-cv-12202
Patents:601281157370546092896
π Aspex Eyewear, Inc.π Contour Optik, Inc.Δ Altair Eyewear, Inc.

Plaintiffs asserted claims 1–3, 5, 6, 9, 10, 12–14, 22–24, 26–28, and 31–33 of the '811 patent, claim 1 of the '054 patent, and claims 13–22 of the '896 patent. The district court granted summary judgment of non-infringement; the Federal Circuit affirmed non-infringement of '811 and '896, reversed the '054 construction and remanded; on remand the '054 claim was held invalid. The case concluded after further appeals and a Supreme Court petition (12-1120).