However, copies of the Elidy concept, made in China, began to appear on the market with months of the product's release, and Chromlech found itself unable to take legal action to protect their intellectual property. Two patents covered Elidy - one for the technology and one for the design, or form factor. Unfortunately for Chromlech, their technology patent application was still pending and the differences introduced by the Chinese manufacturer to the form factor of its product - which was a 7x7 matrix instead of a 5x5, and also incorporated other minor design changes - meant that the design protection was also likely to be side-stepped.
Eventually, as the cheaper product took hold in the marketplace, at around 50% of the cost of Elidy, Chromlech's project and sales leads evaporated. In June, Chromlech announced to its sales partners that the company had finally been forced to cease operations.
Look out for more on this story and the issue of product copying in the next issue of LSi.
(Lee Baldock)
