ICM Controls Records Patent Lawsuit against Honeywell

ICM Controls Corporation (plaintiff) recorded a complaint against Honeywell International (defendant) for patent infringement in the U.S. District Court of New York (case no. 5:12-cv-01766) on Friday, November 30, 2012. 

ICM Controls Corporation designs, manufactures, and sells electronic controls for the HVAC/R industry. Its products include condensate controls, defrost control boards, enclosures, fan blower controls, fan coil relay controls, etc. It offers its products through distributors, including HVAC/R centers in North America; and a network of local aftermarket and OEM sales representatives in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, and the Middle East. 

Honeywell International is an American company that produces or offers a variety of commercial and consumer products, engineering services, and aerospace systems for a wide variety of customers, from private consumers to major corporations and governments. 

The patents involved in this suit are:

Patent Number Current Assignee[1]	Issued Date	Expiration Date[2]	Title
US5889645 ICM Controls	Mar 30, 1999	Apr 14, 2017	Energy preservation and transfer mechanism
US6222719 ICM Controls	Apr 24, 2001	Apr 14, 2017	Ignition boost and rectification flame detection circuit

Note: Table information is sourced from Maxval’s Assignment Database.

Plaintiff alleges that defendant infringes the above patents by manufacturing and selling electronic control devices including Honeywell S8610U Universal Intermittent Pilot Ignition Module (see Fig. 1) control that is embodied in the invention claimed in ‘645 and ‘719 patents. It provides electronic control of intermittent pilot ignition systems used on gas-fired furnaces, boilers, and other heating appliances.

                                  

               Fig. 1: Honeywell S8610U Universal Intermittent Pilot Module

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[1] MaxVal offers Patent Assignment Alert service where subscribers receive email alerts when assignments relating to target applications, patents or entities of interest are recorded.

[2] Expected expiration date. Patent Term Estimator is a free web-based tool that automatically calculates patent terms and expiration dates for U.S. utility patents.

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