February 25, 2000

Industry News Late Breaks

Airwalk Acquired By Sunrise Capital Partners Airwalk announced on July 6 it had been purchased by Sunrise Capital Partners, LP–a private investment fund focusing on the acquisition of mid-sized companies–after being on the selling block for nearly a year-and-a-half.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

According to Cec Annett, Sunrise Capital Partners will help the weaknesses and enable the company to move forward with a totally clean slate, "When it comes to snowboarding, it will give us a renewed focus and will enable us to serve a lot better than we have been."

H. Peter Goehrig, former president of Items International and new Chief Executive Officer of Airwalk says, "In the coming months, we will focus on improving our infrastructure and systems to ensure better customer service and delivery performance."

Adidas-Salomon Sues K2 Over Binding Patent In a suit filed in U.S. District Court, France’s Salomon SA and Georgetown, Massachusetts-based Salomon North America Inc. say K2 is using its 1997 patent for adjustable bindings.

The suit says K2’s line of bindings copies Salomon technology, and should not be made or sold in the U.S.

According to the suit, "The Salomon plaintiffs have been damaged (and) will continue to be irreparably harmed" unless K2’s infringement is stopped, according to the suit, which asks a judge to award legal fees and damages based on reasonable royalties.

K2 spokesman Darren Jones said the allegations are "a little bit ridiculous," since his company has been making the bindings since 1993 and the Salomon patent was awarded in 1997.