New Eyewear from Aspex's BMW Collection

Aspex Eyewear will show its new BMW Group optical and sunwear collection Vision Expo West this week in Las Vegas. The BMW eyewear collection includes 12 optical styles and 12 sunglasses. The designs are made from a combination of titanium, acetate, stainless steel, carbon fiber, and NXT. Designed with style and function, the frames offer polarized spectacle lenses with integrated spring hinges. Read more.

Supreme Court Declines to Hear Aspex Suit against Altair

“The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear the appeal of Aspex Eyewear’s lawsuit against Altair Eyewear, according to a VSP Global press release,” reports Healio’s Primary Care Optometry News. “The two parties disputed patent number 5,737,054, which is a design for a magnetic clip-on to hold a clip-on auxiliary frame to a primary frame, such as a sunglass clip-on frame to a prescription frame, according to the release. By dismissing this litigation, the high court upheld the 2012 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit as to who held the patent, thereby reaffirming the District Court of Massachusetts’ dismissal of the patent infringement lawsuit.” Read more.

Aspex/Countour Sue Zenni

“Countour Optik, Inc. and sublicensee Aspex Eyewear, Inc. (collectively ‘Aspex’) sued Zenni Optical, LLC (‘Zenni’) for infringement of U.S. Patents No. 5,737,054 (the ‘'054 patent’), No. 6,012,811 (the ‘'811 patent’), and No. 6,092,896 (the ‘'896 patent’), all relating to magnetic clip-on eyewear, such as sunglasses. The district court held that Aspex was collaterally estopped from pursuing this lawsuit, based on earlier litigation between Aspex and Altair Eyewear, Inc. for infringement of the same patents (the ‘Altair litigation’),” reports Lexology.com.

“The Altair litigation involved the same three patents and many of the same claims now in suit. In that litigation, the district court had construed the term ‘retaining mechanisms’ in the ‘811 and ‘896 patents as requiring supporting frames—such as rims—around the lenses and construed the term ‘frame’ in the ‘054 patent as requiring rims. The Federal Circuit affirmed the construction of ‘retaining mechanisms,’ and held that the patents were not infringed because Altair’s magnetic clip-ons were rimless. However, it remanded on the construction of ‘frame,’ finding the ‘054 patent did not limit that term to one with rims. On remand, the district court held that the ‘054 claim was invalid for obviousness. The Federal Circuit affirmed.” Read more.

Aspex Adds Turboxflex Hinge to EasyClip

"Aspex eyewear has introduced the Turboflex hinge, the only hinge that has 360 degrees of motion (twist up and down as well as side to side) to its EasyClip collection with 3 new styles," goes the Midwest Lens post. "The 3 new styles EC265, EC266 and EC267 have trendy and modern shapes, perfect for the active and stylish men." Read more.

Aspex to Offer BMW Eyewear

Aspex Eyewear Group recently licensed the right to manufacture and distribute  sun and ophthalmic collections under the BMW brand. This licensing agreement is the first for BMW in the Americas and will allow Aspex to offer eyewear with the BMW brand to markets in North America, Central America, South America and the Caribbean. First deliveries are expected in early 2013.

Court Dismisses Aspex Lawsuit against VSP

Recently United States District Court for Eastern California dismissed the last claim of Aspex Eyewear's lawsuit against VSP Vision Care, acccording to a VSP press release. The federal court's ruling also affirmed the right of VSP Global and its companies to refuse to conduct business with companies who are suing them. The court found no merit to Aspex Eyewear's remaining claim of breach of contract. Earlier this year, Aspex Eyewear withdrew the antitrust and other claims that were included in the lawsuit against VSP.

This is reportedly the latest in a series of favorable court decisions for VSP Global and its companies. In November, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida dismissed Aspex Eyewear's entire patent infringement lawsuit filed against Marchon® Eyewear.  Earlier in the year, the United States Patent and Trademark Office issued a non-final decision invalidating the sole remaining patent claim in Aspex's lawsuit against Altair. Aspex Eyewear has filed appeals with the United States Court of Appeals in both the California and Florida cases.


VSP Global provides more than 55 million opticians and eye care professionals (ECPs) access to frame styles and brands, design of custom interiors and merchandising systems, e-commerce and practice management solutions, and lab services.