OmniTRAX affiliate files patent complaint against U.S. Silica

OmniTRAX Inc. affiliate Arrows Up LLC announced today it has filed a federal complaint for patent infringement against Sandbox Logistics and its owner U.S. Silica in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.

The companies are involved in another lawsuit that SandBox filed in January 2016 against Arrows Up, alleging breach of a 2014 mutual nondisclosure agreement (NDA).

Arrows Up's complaint was necessary to protect its patent portfolio while it deals with the lawsuit that SandBox filed, said John Allegretti, founder and chief executive officer of Arrows Up, in a press release.

"While we are confident we did not breach our NDA with SandBox, the company continues to pursue frivolous trade secrets litigation with the intent of reducing competition in the marketplace when the industry needs it most," said Allegretti. "At this point, Arrows Up has no choice but to enjoin SandBox to prevent it from effectively eliminating key industry players through litigation. We are seeking to promote industry innovation and fair competition and we hope we can ultimately come to mutual agreement that will advance collaboration and progress."

U.S. Silica did not respond to Progressive Railroading's request for comment before deadline.

Arrows Up began developing its bulk material shipping containers and filed multiple U.S. patent applications starting in October 2010. SandBox filed its initial U.S. patent application for its containers in December 2011. The containers disclosed in the first set of Arrows Up patent applications include five major components common to both Arrows Up and SandBox's containers, Arrows Up officials said.

Because Arrows Up filed its patent applications first, company officials believe they will prevail over SandBox in the litigation, they said.