Mag-Lite Rival Agrees Not to Sell Flashlight in U.S.

Mag Instruments Inc., maker of the popular Mag-Lite flashlights, said Thursday that it won a patent dispute with Temecula-based Bright Ideas & More, after Bright Ideas agreed not to market its AmperLite 2000 flashlight in the United States.

Mag, based in Ontario, had sued Bright Ideas, contending that its AmperLite infringed a number of Mag patents. The case was about to go forward in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, but Bright Ideas earlier this week moved to settle the suit and agreed not import, manufacture or sell the flashlight model in the U.S., even though it is sold throughout Europe.

There was no financial settlement.

“We are very pleased,” said Mag attorney Robert Weiss of Lyon & Lyon. “It’s been a long struggle for Mag against these copiers, but because of the profitability of the copies, there is always a new infringer on the block and we have to protect our product.”

Bright Ideas & More sells flashlights around the world. Its president, Arne Ogaard, said his company did not have the financial resources to fight Mag in court.

“Mag won by having money,” said Ogaard, who worked for Mag Instruments for 14 years.

But Weiss denied that claim. “After discovery and some depositions, they decided to enter into a consent judgment rather than go forward,” he said. “They settled because they knew they were going to lose.”

Both sides agree that Ogaard ended his time as a Mag employee in 1998 as its European sales coordinator, although they do not agree on whether Ogaard was fired or quit. Ogaard claims he was terminated and added that the bad blood between himself and Mag was the fuel behind the lawsuit.

Anthony Maglica, the 68-year-old Mag founder and president, said patent infringement was behind the lawsuit, not personal grudges. “I had nothing against Mr. Ogaard and never had bad words with him.”

Ogaard, 55, said he stands by his claim that the AmperLite 2000 is not a Mag-Lite wannabe. “Mag does not own the aluminum flashlight market,” he said, “although they think they do.”