CATERPILLAR SETTLES SUIT FIRST HEARD IN ROANOKE

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, February 28, 1992                   TAG: 9202280151
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B6   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: George Kegley
DATELINE: SALTVILLE                                LENGTH: Medium
CATERPILLAR SETTLES SUIT FIRST HEARD IN ROANOKE
Dotson Wheel Corp., a maker of wheel assemblies for construction and mining vehicles, has won a multimillion-dollar payment from Caterpillar Inc. in a patent infringement lawsuit.
The settlement provides for the payment in exchange for a world license to use Dotson Wheel's patented safety wheel on Caterpillar equipment. Dotson declined to report the amount of the payment.
The settlement reached in a Peoria, Ill., federal court was announced this week by Dotson. The case stemmed from an earlier suit by Dotson in U.S. District Court in Roanoke claiming that Topy Industries Ltd., a Japanese company, was infringing on Dotson's patent to make a multipiece wheel rim assembly.
Topy was making the assemblies for Caterpillar, said Sylvia Ratliff, president of Dotson.
Dotson cancelled its suit against Topy because of a jurisdictional problem, she said. Caterpillar then sued Dotson, seeking invalidation of the patent, "and we had no choice but to countersue or give up the patent," Ratliff said.
Dotson's employment has dropped to 103 workers from a high of 220 and its 1991 sales were down because of the recession and the Japanese company's share of the market, Ratliff said. Dotson's sales to Caterpillar were more than $1 million a year, but they fell to a minimal amount while the suit was in litigation, she said.
Ratliff said business appears to be rebounding and she hopes the licensing agreement will bring new sales to Caterpillar.
The patented wheel device is designed to prevent explosions during inflation, Ratliff said. A multipiece wheel has three or five pieces assembled into the tire and locked in place by a ring, which must be in a proper position to prevent explosions, the company said.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB