Ecore International Inc., a private corporation and North America’s largest manufacturer of recycled rubber products today announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) issued reissue patent RE 41,945, relating to Ecore’s QT impact sound isolation technology. The reissue patent RE 41,945 confirms that Ecore’s reissue patent application satisfied statutory requirements of patentability.

“The reissued patent confirms our position that Ecore has the exclusive right to market the QT family of recycled rubber underlayments,” said Arthur B. Dodge III, Ecore’s chairman and CEO. A leading industry standard for sound control comprised of recycled content, QT is made from 92% recycled rubber and has been tested in over 200 laboratory and field test assemblies. QT has been proven to repeatedly perform as engineered to meet design requirements. The product and engineering support that is provided by QT Sound Insulation guarantees that QT will work as specified, every time. Ecore filed its application seeking reissuance in July 2007 to broaden the claims of the original U.S. Patent 6,920,723 (the ‘723 patent). The ‘723 patent had been involved in extensive and protracted litigation in Pennsylvania since 2006. Certain court papers from that litigation, including allegedly invalidating prior art, were submitted to the PTO as part of the reissue process. The PTO did not find the prior art invalidating and issued the patent today.