Global Diagnostic Smoke® Technology leader STAR EnviroTech, Inc. has won the final U.S. patent challenge by competitor Redline Detection, LLC, in the US Federal Circuit Court of Appeals. In a precedential 33-page opinion1, the Court fully upheld STAR's "nitrogen smoke" patent. This technology is used by every major automaker (OEM).

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STAR EnviroTech, Inc. has won the final U.S. patent challenge by competitor Redline Detection, LLC. as the US Federal Circuit Court of Appeals has fully upheld STAR's "nitrogen smoke" patent. STAR EnviroTech's Diagnostic Smoke(R) automotive leak detection technology is approved/mandated by every major automaker (OEM) and used by leading automotive aftermarket equipment makers worldwide. (Photo: Business Wire)

Previously, STAR prevailed against three other Redline Detection attempts to take STAR’s “nitrogen smoke” technologies for safer EVAP testing: two patent re-examination proceedings and an Inter Partes proceeding before a three-judge panel of the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB).2 Two other failed Redline Detection attempts attacked two of STAR’s dye patents. STAR makes these safe, industry-standard technologies available to leading tool manufacturers serving every major automaker and the automotive aftermarket. Twenty other STAR patents were unchallenged by Redline Detection.

"This Appellate Court victory, coming on the heels of our five prior patent challenge wins, reaffirms that neither Redline nor its customers can use our patented 'nitrogen smoke', or our 'smoke dye' technologies”, said STAR EnviroTech CEO Jim Saffie. “We’ve worked hard to secure our U.S. and international patents. We invented this technology and we have an ethical obligation to our distribution partners to guard those patents. They’ve made an investment in us and our technologies. We will protect those investments.”

STAR EnviroTech, the inventor of Diagnostic Smoke® Leak Detection Technologies, worked in collaboration with various partners including Ford, GM and Chrysler, through the OEMs’ USCAR organization, to develop a universally-accepted vehicle fuel evaporative (EVAP) and vacuum system leak detection technology. Today, STAR Technologies are OEM-mandated worldwide, available in more than 125 countries and more have been sold by leading tool manufacturers and distributors than all competitors’ products combined.

STAR’s “nitrogen smoke” patent (6,526,808) uses an exclusive method of producing smoke with any inert gas to virtually eliminate the risk of a vehicle fuel tank fire or explosion during an EVAP test. Papers published by SAE International3 and other empirical data support this method as safer than testing with shop air in a fuel tank. Adding air containing oxygen to a volatile environment such as a fuel tank can create a flammable mixture inside the fuel tank, but “nitrogen smoke” eliminates the risk of fire during the testing process.

STAR’s “smoke dye” patents use a unique, non-contaminating, non-permanent UV dye to mark the spot of the leak(s), making even hidden leaks easy to find.

Headquartered in Huntington Beach, California, STAR EnviroTech, a privately-held corporation, develops award-winning, industry-standard technologies for leak testing in fuel evaporative (EVAP), vacuum/induction, turbo, and other vehicle and non-vehicle systems.

STAR technologies are inside smoke machines from the leading tool manufacturers supplying the automotive, truck, industrial, marine, and aviation industries, including the Canadian Air Force and the U.S. Military.

For more information on STAR EnviroTech, go to: http://www.StarEnviroTech.com

See also: http://knobbe.com/news/2016/01/knobbe-martens-client-star-envirotech-wins-affirmance-ipr-decision-finding-patent-valid

1 Redline Detection, LLC V. STAR EnviroTech, Inc. [opinion] Appeal Number: 15-1047.2 (USPTO Reexams: 90/011,916, 90/011,544, 90/011,545, 90/009,683 and Case: IPR2013-00106)3 SAE International Papers:

- Fuel Tank and Charcoal Canister Fire Hazards during EVAP System Leak Testing- Oxygenated Fuel Considerations for In-Shop Fuel System Leak Testing Hazards

PRNewsBureauPhil Sasso, +1 847-250-7445phil@prnewsbureau.com