We understand that our competitor, Aquador, has been disseminating letters in the marketplace making false allegations that Jedco's SkimSaver LID'L Seal™ product infringes Aquador's U.S. Patent No. 5,285,538. Rather than simply compete above board in the marketplace as most reputable companies do, Aquador has chosen to continue its two-year smear campaign against Jedco.
The smear campaign started in January 2006 at the Atlantic City Pool & Spa Show, where Jedco's award winning 6 foot display for its SkimSaver LID'L Seal™ was admitted stolen by Salesman Mike Hodak and a poster, signed by Salesman Mike Hodak of Aquador was hung in its place.
(Mike Hodak is the brother of Jerry Hodak, Vice President of Jedco Products. Jerry Hodak is the inventor of both the original snap-on lid for skimmers patent # 4,913,810 and the most recently patented snap-in lid for skimmers patent # 7,011,747, and that relationship explains Aquador's animosity toward Jedco.)
In 2006, as part of its ongoing smear campaign, Aquador filed a baseless non-patent lawsuit against Jedco in state court and distributed to some customers copies of the complaint in an attempt to sow confusion. But shortly after filing the lawsuit, Aquador voluntarily dismissed the case when it could not prove any of its false allegations.
In 2008 Jedco Products inc. filed a lawsuit in federal court against Aquador for trademark infringement, Dave Hodak an employee of Aquador registered the domains Lid'LSeal.com and Lid'LGuard.com and had them forwarded to Aquador's website.
U.S. Patent 4,913,810
Jerry Hodak April 3, 1990
U.S. Patent 7,011,747
Jerry Hodak March 14, 2006
U.S. Patent 5,285,538
Frank J. Hodak Feb 15, 1994
All patent numbers are issued in numeric order as they are granted a patent; patents will also disclose similar inventions that received a patent earlier as prior art cited. We received our first patent April 3, 1990 as the inventor of the first snap-on lid for skimmers with no known prior art. On March 14, 2006 we received yet another patent for much needed improvement over the original patented design, including other patents still pending.
U.S. Patent 7,011,747
Jerry Hodak March 14, 2006
PATENTED IN 1990
PATENTED IN 2006
AQUADOR® 1994