American Tru Spinners
American TRU-Spinners (ATS) is an American company producing spinning rims for the custom car market.
Product & Origin
The inventor and founder of Tru-Spinners, James (J.D.) Gragg, was working on concept cars in the 1980s when the idea of the Tru Spinner wheels was born. In October 1992, a United States wheel spinner patent was filed by American inventor James (J.D.) Gragg who conceived and invented the original free-spinning spinner in the late 1980s. The American Tru-Spinners Wheel Enhancer spinner patent (United States Patent #5,290,094) was issued on March 1, 1994, making it the first free-spinning wheel spinner patent of its kind with foreign patents to follow, Patent(#187,015) issued in October 1997.[1] James (J.D.) Gragg from Tulsa, OK has over 80 inventions from holographics, golf, MusicAL INSTRUMENTS, nautical equipment, air purification, tools, medical equipment and even more EXCITING auto related products and his creative thinking has been considered so far “outside the box” that his concepts from the 1980’s took till the New Millennium to be fully appreciated as can be seen by the phenomena his free-spinning wheel enhancers have created. He is known to be the leader in the field of the "Spinning Wheel Technology" with documented spin tests that stayed in motion for over 18 minutes as recorded by ABC/ESPN cameramen and also has versions with multiple-spinners that have 27 different spinning mode capabilities. The Tru-Spinner was so popular worldwide that the illegal pirating was on a massive scale and considered to be THE largest case of patent infringement in legal history.
Legal battles
In October 1992, a United States wheel spinner patent was filed by American Tru-Spinners inventor James (J.D.) Gragg who conceived and invented the original free-spinning spinner in the late 1980s. The American Tru-Spinners Wheel Enhancer spinner patent (United States Patent #5,290,094) was issued on March 1, 1994, making it the first free-spinning wheel spinner patent of its kind with foreign patents to follow, Patent(#187,015) issued in October 1997.[1] American Tru-Spinners is known to be the leader in the field of the "Spinning Wheel Technology" with documented spin tests that stayed in motion for over 18 minutes as recorded by ABC/ESPN cameramen and also has versions with multiple-spinners that have 27 different spinning mode capabilities. The Tru-Spinner was so popular worldwide that the illegal pirating was on a massive scale and considered to be THE largest case of patent infringement in legal history. As of June 2007, American Tru-Spinners concluded and settled the first in a series of litigation against the first 12 of several illegal spinner pirating manufacturers, importers and retailers. The outcome within the United States Federal Courts of the Southern District of California were that the American Tru-Spinners patents were indeed valid and therefore validated and enforced by the Federal Courts and the plaintiffs, American Tru-Spinners, prevailed in an unprecedented 100% of its legal actions. American Tru-Spinners won Federal Summary Judgments against all 12 of the defendants for Patent Infringement and Permanent Injunctions were also issued against all the defendants. The awarded settlement amounts memorialized in suit are not to be disclosed and remain strictly confidential by Stipulation of Court Order mandated by the U.S. Federal Courts of the Southern District of California.
References
- americantruspinners.com Legal statement on infringement.