Columbia Sportswear North America, Inc. v. Ventex Co., Ltd.

INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff in this case is Columbia Sportswear, Inc., (“Columbia”), an Oregon-based retailer of outdoor and athletic apparel. Simon Opinion [156] at 2. Defendants are Seirus Innovative Accessories and four of its officers (“the Seirus Defendants”), who are all domiciled in San Diego, and Ventex, Inc., a South Korean company.1 Second Am. Compl. [ECF 91] (“SAC”) ¶¶ 11-19. In this action, Columbia has alleged eight grounds for relief: (1) Federal RICO (18 U.S.C. § 1964(C)), two counts; (2) Oregon RICO (ORS § 1667.25(7)(A)(B)), two counts; (3) Fraud (Or.); (4) Actual Fraud (Va.); (5) Civil Conspiracy to Commit Fraud (V.A.

Code § 18.2-499); (6) Civil Conspiracy to Commit Fraud (Va.); (7) Abuse of Process (Va.); and (8) Exemplary Punitive Damages. SAC [91] ¶¶ 300-458. Columbia’s claims arise out of alleged events that occurred in relation to an underlying patent lawsuit that Columbia brought against Seirus, in which it alleged that Seirus infringed a patent that Columbia held on insulating fabric used in gloves. Simon Opinion [156] at 2-3. The filing of the complaint caused a one-year statute of limitations to begin running, after which Seirus would be barred from…