Meras and Houweling's Tomatoes have buried the hatchet in the longstanding water treatment solution lawsuit with CH20. Meras has settled with CH20, the developer of a patented chlorine dioxide water treatment system.
On September 6, 2016, a federal jury awarded CH2O $12.5 million in damages, finding that Meras and co-defendant Houweling’s Nurseries Oxnard, Inc. willfully infringed CH2O’s U.S. '470 patent.
“We were extremely gratified when we won the case and our patent proved to be valid, enforceable and infringed. But we are even more pleased now that we’ve put all of our disputes with Meras behind us and we can both focus our efforts on serving the marketplace,” said Carl Iverson, CH2O’s Chief Executive Officer and inventor of the ’470 patent. “CH2O plans to continue innovating and creating new products to protect health, safety, and the environment.”
"Meras admitted that CH2O’s ’470 patent is valid, enforceable, and infringed. The patent covers a method of making water safer using chlorine dioxide", says a news release.
The settlement also disposes of several other legal disputes between the parties, including a trade secret misappropriation case brought by CH2O and a U.S. Patent Office procedure brought by Meras to invalidate another one of CH2O’s patents. The terms of the subsequent settlement agreement are confidential.