Perstorp Xytec Inc

Ropak Inc. said Thursday that it has settled a patent infringement suit filed by a competing firm over a line of collapsible shipping bins. Perstorp Xytec Inc. of Tacoma, Wash., will grant Ropak a non-exclusive license to Xytec's patents on the bin. In exchange, the Fullerton designer and maker of containers will pay Perstorp Xytec $1.4 million over the next three years. The license is effective until 2004, when the patents on the product are due to expire.

Ropak Inc. said Thursday that it has settled a patent infringement suit filed by a competing firm over a line of collapsible shipping bins. Perstorp Xytec Inc. of Tacoma, Wash., will grant Ropak a non-exclusive license to Xytec's patents on the bin. In exchange, the Fullerton designer and maker of containers will pay Perstorp Xytec $1.4 million over the next three years. The license is effective until 2004, when the patents on the product are due to expire.

In an Orange County Superior Court suit, plastic-packaging manufacturer Ropak Corp. on Wednesday accused a competitor of libel and interfering in its relationship with customers. The competitor, Perstorp Xytec Inc., had already sued Ropak in Detroit a year and a half ago, accusing Ropak of infringing on Perstorp patents.

In an Orange County Superior Court suit, plastic-packaging manufacturer Ropak Corp. on Wednesday accused a competitor of libel and interfering in its relationship with customers. The competitor, Perstorp Xytec Inc., had already sued Ropak in Detroit a year and a half ago, accusing Ropak of infringing on Perstorp patents.

Ropak Corp., a designer and manufacturer of containers, said Friday that a competitor's contempt-of-court claim in a patent lawsuit was rejected by a federal judge in Detroit, enabling Ropak to continue selling its version of a collapsible shipping bin. U.S. District Judge Julian Cook decided that Ropak had not violated an earlier injunction by modifying and selling the shipping container at issue in the patent suit.

A British ally of Ropak Corp., a plastic-packaging manufacturer, has purchased a 9% block of its common stock for about $1.65 million. The Linpac Group, based in Louth, Lincolnshire, on England's eastern coast, bought the stock from two institutional investors, Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. and Mass Mutual Corporate Investors. Ropak said the shares were priced at $4.50 each. In over-the-counter trading Tuesday, Ropak shares closed unchanged at $5.25.

Ropak Corp. said Tuesday that, after cutting operating costs and launching a program to attract new customers nationally, it more than doubled its earnings in the second quarter. The designer and manufacturer of plastic containers posted a second-quarter profit of $1.59 million, or 37 cents a share. That was up 132% from $685,000, or 16 cents a share, in the same period last year. Sales for the quarter rose moderately to $29.1 million, up 5% from $27.8 million a year earlier.