Sledguy74 Posted October 22, 2020 Share Posted October 22, 2020 Story shared from Snowgoer Delivery of spring-ordered 2021 Arctic Cats snowmobiles is in serious peril in Canada after the federal court there rejected a multi-part appeal by Cat and four Canadian Cat dealerships. In a ruling filed in October, Canadian Federal Court Justice Yvon Roy ruled that deposits placed by customers for 2021 models did not yet constitute a sale, and therefore were not exempt from a June 2020 ruling that banned sales of full-sized Cat snowmobiles that violated a patent owned by Ski-Doo and its parent company, BRP. The new ruling affects 732 pre-ordered, adult-sized Cat snowmobiles that were reserved by customers in Canada with a $750 deposit. Youth snowmobile sales were not affected by the ruling – which is related to the pyramid subframe beneath ProCross/ProClimb chassis Arctic Cat that the court said violated Ski-Doo’s patent for the original REV chassis. In its appeal of the original ruling, Arctic Cat argued for a stay of the injunction judgement, saying that: Its competitive position in Canada would be irreparably harmed; Its Canadian dealers and relationship with Canadian customers would suffer permanent harm; Serious reputational harm would follow; and Independent Cat dealers in Canada would suffer irreparable harm to their businesses. With that in mind, Cat asked that it instead pay a “reasonable royalty” instead of not being able to deliver the pre-ordered/reserved 2021 snowmobiles. The dealers in the case were Universe Satellite Sales, Country Corners Rent-All, Valley Moto Sport Kelowna and Morin Sports. In the ruling, the judge stated that the deposits do not constitute a sale. He said the down deposits were “pre-orders which can be cancelled by customers, with their deposit being paid back. In effect, ‘pre-ordered’ snowmobile sales occur, are complete, only after the delivery is made by the consumer (with warranty documentation finalized).” He then turned to testimonial evidence. “As a matter of fact, the [Arctic Cat] Sales Director confirmed in cross-examination that the 732 pre-ordered adult snowmobiles had not been built as of the date of the injunction coming into force. He conceded during cross-examination that title to the snowmobile does not pass from AC to its dealers before final payment has been made and that occurs only once the snowmobile has been manufactured and the dealer is notified that the snowmobile is ready for delivery. The title would pass to the consumer only later.” Patent Is Expiring, Other Tidbits Aside from the main ruling, the court paperwork includes many interesting facts not previously written about. Perhaps most notably, related to the “irreparable harm,” the court pointed out that the Ski-Doo patent in question actually expires in June of 2021. “As a matter of fact, these [pre-ordered, 2021] snowmobiles can be sold once the 264 Parent expires, in less than one year from now: they will not have been destroyed,” the ruling states. In fact, the ruling states that if the injunction on the pre-sold 2021 models was not enforced, due to the pending expiration of the patent, BRP would in essence not benefit from the original ruling. Also interesting: The original June language in the injunction said the court provided a “permanent injunction” on Arctic Cat and its officers, directors, employees, distributors and dealers from “selling or offering for sale, making, using or distributing in Canada any snowmobile or component thereof” or “inducing and procuring the sale, the offer for sale, the fabrication, the construction, the use or the distribution in Canada of any snowmobile or component thereof” that violates the BRP patent, effective on July 6, 2020. In this most recent paperwork, however, BRP is quoted as saying it isn’t going after the full extent of the ruling. “BRP has already informed Arctic Cat and the Dealers that it would not enforce its injunction on used snowmobiles and would be open to accept a reasonable royalty on the sale of used snowmobiles, as it has already suffered the harm which is to be prevented by the injunction, by the first sale of those snowmobiles to the end customer. BRP’s correspondence to the Dealers expressly stated that it was enforcing the injunction against new snowmobiles, never previously sold to an end-user.” Arctic Cat has already been ordered to pay $2.83 million for 21,000 snowmobiles that violated the patent between model years 2007 and 2014, with another court ruling expected to determine costs post 2014. We reached out to Arctic Cat/Textron seeking comment on the ruling and were told that “an official communication would be coming soon.” Separately, a lawsuit by Arctic Cat against BRP related to personal watercraft patent infringement in which Cat received a big judgement recently received a 40 day extension for BRP to appeal. Historically, when powersports manufacturers go to court against one another, there have been trades made to settle disputes. Only time will tell if this is one of those instances 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canuck Posted October 22, 2020 Share Posted October 22, 2020 47 minutes ago, Sledguy74 said: ..... the deposits do not constitute a sale. He said the down deposits were “pre-orders which can be cancelled by customers, with their deposit being paid back. That's surprising. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ontariof7 Posted October 22, 2020 Share Posted October 22, 2020 1 hour ago, Canuck said: That's surprising. Your commit is surprising, coming from you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canuck Posted October 22, 2020 Share Posted October 22, 2020 Never spring ordered an Arctic Cat. Current AC's we own are "new in box", but older inventory. Actually see myself spring ordering next year. Trade these 2 in at year’s end. Or even swap out this year, if the opportunity arises. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turbo Doo Posted October 22, 2020 Share Posted October 22, 2020 6 minutes ago, Canuck said: Never spring ordered an Arctic Cat. Current AC's we own are "new in box", but older inventory. Actually see myself spring ordering next year. Trade these 2 in at year’s end. Or even swap out this year, if the opportunity arises. Let me know if you need help spring ordering a new Doo?. I am getting good at it, year after year..... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ox Posted October 23, 2020 Share Posted October 23, 2020 Quote In its appeal of the original ruling, Arctic Cat argued for a stay of the injunction judgement, saying that: Its competitive position in Canada would be irreparably harmed; Its Canadian dealers and relationship with Canadian customers would suffer permanent harm; Serious reputational harm would follow; and Independent Cat dealers in Canada would suffer irreparable harm to their businesses. Second verse, same as the first.... There are only 4 dealers in all of Canada that snow-checked any Kitty's this year? And of those 4, they sold 732 of them? Why doo I git the feeling that someone did a poor job of understanding the info they were given? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arctic JC Posted October 30, 2020 Share Posted October 30, 2020 Looks like Cat and BRP came to an agreement 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turbo Doo Posted October 30, 2020 Share Posted October 30, 2020 5 minutes ago, Arctic JC said: Looks like Cat and BRP came to an agreement Good for both Manufacturers... Congrats.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chez-nous cest skidoo Posted October 31, 2020 Share Posted October 31, 2020 excellent news for everyone ! cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manotickmike Posted October 31, 2020 Share Posted October 31, 2020 Lots of happy lawyers this week! (why are sleds so expensive?) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoney Posted October 31, 2020 Share Posted October 31, 2020 It is really good news. Best for all enthusiasts when all of the manufactures are running on all eight cylinders, regardless of your preference.......plus this just means Doo will soon have a little bit more of a CAT technology in/on their products Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turbo Doo Posted October 31, 2020 Share Posted October 31, 2020 1 hour ago, stoney said: It is really good news. Best for all enthusiasts when all of the manufactures are running on all eight cylinders, regardless of your preference.......plus this just means Doo will soon have a little bit more of a CAT technology in/on their products I would think ALL the sled manufacturers steal from each other.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoney Posted October 31, 2020 Share Posted October 31, 2020 2 hours ago, Turbo Doo said: I would think ALL the sled manufacturers steal from each other.. Without a doubt, always have and always will, just too bad when they need to involve courts, legal, etc.....but that is the norm I suppose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turbo Doo Posted October 31, 2020 Share Posted October 31, 2020 7 hours ago, stoney said: Without a doubt, always have and always will, just too bad when they need to involve courts, legal, etc.....but that is the norm I suppose. And it will most likely get worse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAMSOMAIR Posted November 1, 2020 Share Posted November 1, 2020 On 10/23/2020 at 9:37 AM, Ox said: Second verse, same as the first.... There are only 4 dealers in all of Canada that snow-checked any Kitty's this year? And of those 4, they sold 732 of them? Why doo I git the feeling that someone did a poor job of understanding the info they were given? Only 4 dealers in all of Canada snow-checked, c'mon???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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