Regal Fastrac Hull Patent Dispute
Regal Fastrac Hull Design Controversy
In late 1997 a dispute over the design Regal's FasTrac hull was turned over to the court system. Harry Schoell, designer of the patented Duo Delta Conic Hull claims the Regal hull infringes on his patent. We have posted several items concerning the dispute.
Designer claims Regal's FasTrac is his
Soundings Trade Only
November 1997
Page 45
by Jim Flannery
article was summarized by RBBI
Naval architect Harry Schoell of Ft. Lauderdale FL is suing Regal Marine Industries, Inc. of Orlando FL claiming their FasTrac hull infringes on his 8-year-old stepped hull design. His Duo Delta Conic hull is licensed to several boat builders including Larson Boats (Genmar), Crestliner, Infinity Yachts, Yamaha, Challenger and Cayman Catamaran.
Regal released its FasTrac hull 2 years ago and won the industry's top award for innovation for its design. The hull is now used in 17, 19, 21, 25, and 27 foot models.
Schoell filed suit Sept. 25 in Detroit federal district court. He says he applied for a patent for the design in 1990 and it was granted in 1995, after FasTrac was on the market.
Regal's president Duane Kuck says they will contest the suit. Kuck said FasTrac was in costly prototype development and testing for two years. David Livingston of Seattle (designer behind Brunswick's U.S. Marine/Bayliner boats said he designed it from scratch. It features include a step to improve efficiency; tunnels aft that draw air and break the suction between hull and water; inverted strakes, which keep the hull tracking; laminar flow interrupters (small steps) along the strakes, which prevent instability in turns"; two pads aft for horizontal stability: and a 24-degree deadrise.
Livingston says Regal's inverted strakes and laminar flow interrupters are patented. "Our technical people definitely don't feel we are infringing," Livingston said.
Schoell says that after FasTrac's unique features are stripped away, the step design is his.
Schoell is being represented by John Nemazi of Southfield MI. He says his client is suing to protect his licenses. The licenses are complaining that is Regal is not paying, why should they.
Regal Marine denies infringing on Schoell's patent
Boating Industry
December 1997
Page 8
by Jeff Kurowski
article summarized by RBBI
Harry Schoell filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Regal and one of its dealers, Emerald City Harbor Inc of St. Clair Shores MI in U.S. District Court in Detroit in September. Schoell is seeking a permanent injunction preventing Regal from constructing hulls with the FasTrac hull design and an unspecified amount of damages, attorney fees and court costs. A jury trial was requested, says Bill Abbatt, attorney at the Southfield MI based firm, Brooks & Kushman which represents Schoell.
Although FasTrac and Schoell's design share a common trait, a stepped bottom, the geometry and hydrodynamics are altogether different, says Regal President Duane Kuck.
The purpose of the stepped hull is to funnel air rearward beneath the hull to reduce frictional drag. The aft hull is equipped with a narrow relatively flat keel that surfs across the water at planing speed. This design raises the boats top speed and reduces fuel consumption enabling manufacturers to use smaller engines while improving performance according to Schoell.
Related Patents
Since patent drawings are very important in understanding boat hull patents, we are sending you to the IBM Patent Server (a free patent viewing site) where you can see printed text of the patent abstracts and claims, plus full photocopies of the patents which include the drawings.
- Patent #5,456,202 Planing Boat Hull. Invented by Harry Schoell. Patented 10 October 1995. Near the top of the page you can select "View Images" to see the actual drawings and photocopies of the full patent.
- Patent #D383,109 Boat Hull. Invented by David Livingston. Not assigned. This is a "design patent' and not a utility patent. It only covers the exact shapes shown in the drawings. In many cases they are not worth the paper they are printed on (it is very easy to get around them). They are usually only sought after attempts to get a normal patent have failed. In the case of hull refinements they may be more important as shapes are critical. Notice the patent is described as "ornamental design for a boat hull." Near the top of the page you can select "view images" which will show you four pages of drawings related to this design patent. We assume this is the "patent" referred to by Livingston in the Soundings Trade Only article when he says, "Regal's inverted strakes and laminar flow interrupters are patented."
- Patent # 5,685,253 Reduced Drag Stable Vee Bottom planing Boat. Charles F. Alexander Jr. assigned to Brunswick. At the top of the page, select "View Images" to see the actual drawings and photocopies of the full patent. This patent is a very recent entry in to the same area and may be of interest to those studying the designs.
RBBI Comments
- Something is going on when a Florida firms sues another Florida firm in U.S. Eastern Michigan District Court. Schoell's law firm is there and the Regal dealer listed in the suit is there. I suspect there is a deeper reason. Schoell filed it there and Regal is trying to move the suit to Florida.
- In addition to wanting Regal to stop production of the FasTrac hull design, Schoell is also suing for unspecified damages, attorney fees and court costs. In a patent case like this, it is extremely rare to award attorney fees and court costs.
- Why not get everybody in a room at once and get a judge to make a ruling on a location for the case to be tried. How hard can that be?
- I seem to recall seeing a presentation on the Duo Delta Conic hull somewhere. Maybe it was at HPMV92 (High Performance Marine Vehicles conference). I no longer have a copy of the proceedings, but I do have a copy of the agenda which lists a session, "Optimized Designs for Stepped Planing Monohulls and Catamarans" by Gene Clement and Joseph Koelbel, Jr. This paper might be of interest to those studying the design.
- It took 5 years for the Schoell patent to be awarded. This is a sign that considerable debate ensured over some of the original claims. Most patents in that era (1990) went through the system in 18 months to 2 years. His patent has 17 claims, but only two of them are independent claims.
- Regal's website currently makes very little mention of the FasTrac hull. The word appears a few times but it is never expounded upon. If it is such a great idea, why don't they brag about it. Perhaps the lawsuit has them toning it down?
- I don't understand Livingston's involvement. He works for U.S. Marine (a Brunswick Company), Regal is an independent. Did he design Regal's FasTrac hull while working for Brunswick or is he an independent designer?
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