1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136 
Hope hits back at QH
Page 7
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• Fred Hope, inventor and managing director of Hope Technical Developments, is calling for Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to intervene in a patents dispute between his company and Quinton Hazen, At a press conference this week, Hope explained that the dispute is over his rear under-run bumper for lorries, the Hope Safe-T-Bar.
In March, 1982, he received a letter from QH's solicitor, instructing him to withdraw the product because it infringed the patents protecting QH's under-run bumper, the Underider. QH threatened a High Court action.
Hope describes this as a "try-on" because his device is substantially different in the way that it absorbs the energy of an under-run impact; it lacks the hydraulic units of QH's Underider.
He claims that QH was simply trying to squeeze him out of the market and points out that another device is more akin to QH's, but its manufacturer (TI) has not been challenged because it is larger than his own company.
"I felt I'd been mugged," said Hope. "I could not afford the litigation, even if I won."
Although QH's High Court action and Hope's reply of a patent revocation were "reciprocally withdrawn" last November, QH has reserved the right to take a similar action over Hope's current, revised Safe-T-Bar.
Says Hope: "I want that threat removed." He has challenged QH either to substantiate its patent objections, or else pay him £2.2 million to compensate him for the legal
costs, loss of business and personal stress the last four years.
He has turned to Mrs Thatcher because he believes that she champions the cause of small companies. In addition, Dennis Thatcher is a director of Quinton Hazell.
Last month, Quinton Hazell was sold by its parent Burmah Oil to the American group Echlin Inc., which also owns Grau Girling and Lipe Clutches.