WD and Carnegie’s legal challenge centred on the alleged breach of two patents the companies have licenced since 2011. The first covers the microwave-plasma chemical vapor deposition (CVD) diamond-growing process, and the second relates to the high-pressure, high-temperature (HPHT) process – also called annealing – that improves a lab-grown diamond’s colour and clarity.
In a joint motion filed to the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, lawyers for both parties announced they had settled their case with no stipulated conditions.
Pure Grown Diamonds and IIa Technologies had previously attempted to have the case dismissed on the grounds that diamond growth is a natural phenomenon and therefore cannot be patented. The companies also argued that since their manufacturing process is not public, there was insufficient evidence of infringement.
Their claims were dismissed in March and the case was allowed to proceed.
However, the resolution does not mark the end of WD and Carnegie’s legal battles. Jewellery industry publication JCK Online reports the companies still have ongoing patent disputes with Fenix Diamonds, whose lab-grown stones are manufactured by Nouveau Diamonds in India.
Fenix, which supplies lab-grown diamonds to Michael Hill International, has denied any wrongdoing, but its counterclaims to cancel Carnegie’s patents were dismissed by US District Court Judge Jed Rakoff in August.
The case is one of several other patent battles are currently being waged between lab-grown diamond producers. In February, a Singapore court ruled IIa had infringed on a patent owned by Element Six, a subsidiary of De Beers. The court also cancelled one of Element Six’s patents as part of the case.
Meanwhile, in March, WD and Carnegie reached a settlement with ALTR Created Diamonds,following legal action launched in January. Immediately following the ruling, WD signed a patent sublicense agreement with ALTR.
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