MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - October 22, 2002 - Genmar announced today it has filed a lawsuit against Brunswick Corporation and its Bayliner Boat Company (a division of U.S. Marine) in U.S. District Court in the District of Minnesota for false, misleading, and otherwise anti-competitive statements of fact in Brunswick's advertising and/or promotional materials.
Genmar's lawsuit relates to national marketing materials that were produced, created and distributed throughout Brunswick's Bayliner boat division's dealers to be used in marketing Bayliner boats against those Genmar boat companies using VEC™ Technology to America's retail and general boat buying public.
The materials falsely stated the technological advantages of Genmar's VEC™ was a "myth" and that "VEC™ was nothing more than larger scale RTM." Brunswick's materials further falsely claimed that "U.S. Marine (Bayliner) had pioneered VEC™ in the 1940's and that the technology was useful only for hatch and lid construction applicators for boats." The Brunswick and Bayliner materials contained many more inaccurate statements of fact and otherwise anticompetitive misstatements.
Genmar Chairman Irwin Jacobs stated "It is unfortunate that Brunswick and Bayliner must utilize such desperate and outright falsehoods in an effort to compete with Genmar's game-changing VEC™ Technology. VEC™ is not a myth and, contrary to Brunswick's claims that it has only been effectively utilized in hatch and lid construction, Genmar has already manufactured and sold over 11,000 VEC™ boats in our new state-of-the-art facility in Little Falls, Minnesota. Clearly, Genmar's VEC™ has proven to be the technology for building boats in the 21st Century."
Genmar has won several awards and national recognition for its VEC™ Technology, including a personal visit from Director Christine Todd Whitman, head of the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
Genmar, with approximately 6,000 employees and 12 manufacturing centers in the United States and Canada, is the world's largest builder of recreational boats and the industry's technological leader. Genmar boat brands include Aquasport®, Carver®, Champion®, Crestliner®, Four Winns®, Glastron®, Hydra-Sports®, Larson®, Lowe®, Lund®, Martinique®, Ranger®, Seaswirl®, Stratos®, Triumph® and Wellcraft®.