BIELEFELD, Germany—Representatives from EIS GmbH, the makers of the Satisfyer range of pleasure products, responded to a lawsuit filed against them in Germany by epi24, the makers of the Womanizer.
“We are amused,” said Jerome Bensimon, vice president of sales at Satisfyer. “Satisfyer does not only take their own rights, but also property rights of third parties very seriously. This case is more of a ‘marketing action’ than a serious patent infringement action. From our point of view, the sole purpose of the legal action is to unsettle the market. A lawsuit in that matter is hopeless. There is simply no patent infringement.”
The lawsuit filed by Womanizer relates to a previous version of the current Satisfyer Pro 2 and solely to the German market, and EIS reps said the suit cannot be brought to court in any other country besides Germany, claiming no Womanizer patent allows any action outside of Germany.
EIS reps said the action does not relate to the currently shipped version of the Satisfyer Pro 2, but to a previous version that has been updated recently. The old version is no longer produced, they said.
“All models like the Satisfyer 1, Satisfyer 2, Satisfyer Pro Penguin, Satisfyer Pro Deluxe and Satisfyer Pro 2 have been developed by our own product designers and are therefore based on our own technology. We differentiate ourselves from the patent asserted by Womanizer. Other than required by the patent, the attacked devices do not work with two chambers, but with just a single one. Womanizer has already contacted us some time ago because of an older Satisfyer model and claimed a patent infringement. However, this case was resolved in an out-of-court settlement and we have further amended and improved our product design since then. The mechanism now complained by Womanizer is irrelevant to the function of the device and has been eliminated with the latest product update,” said Technical Director of Satisfyer Jörg Budde. “We regret that Womanizer initiated this totally unnecessary lawsuit. We are always seeking dialogue with our competitors instead of employing courts and lawyers. We do not worry about the case: the allegation of patent infringement is completely unfounded and does not even meet the latest generations of our devices. Even the Satisfyer Pro 2 has been updated recently. Thus, there is no danger for retailers. We accept any liability for our devices and do not hide.”
The newest products from the Satisfyer range will debut at the upcoming eroFame trade show.
For more, visit Satisfyer.com.
