DENVER, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Arrows Up,
LLC, an affiliate of OmniTRAX, Inc., one of the largest privately
held transportation service companies in North America, announced today that it has
filed a federal complaint for patent infringement against SandBox
Logistics and its owner, U.S. Silica (NYSE: SLCA), in the U.S.
District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division.
Arrows Up has been and continues to be an industry leader in
last mile logistics solutions and SandBox has a history of
attempting to reduce competition in the marketplace through
litigation. The companies are involved in another lawsuit that
SandBox filed in January 2016 in
Texas District Court against
Arrows Up, alleging breach of a 2014 mutual NDA.
"The complaint Arrows Up filed today has unfortunately become a
necessary effort to protect our patent portfolio while we deal with
the lawsuit SandBox filed against us last January," said
John Allegretti, founder and CEO of
Arrows Up. "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. 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 a mutual agreement that will
advance collaboration and progress."
Arrows Up provides an innovative, patented last-mile
containerized bin-to-blender proppant delivery solution, and is
actively providing services and working with Oil Field Service
Companies in three basins, with plans to be in all major basins by
year's end. The innovative patented system eliminates the need for
pneumatic trucks, increases truck turn times, reduces demurrage and
virtually eliminates crew's exposure to silica. Arrows Up
began developing its bulk material shipping containers and filed
multiple U.S. patent applications starting in October 2010, well before 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.
Because Arrows Up is first-in-time in the eyes of the U.S. Patent
Office and entitled to broader patent protection, Arrows Up
believes it will prevail over SandBox in this litigation.
Arrows Up supports competition in the marketplace. Further,
Arrows Up wants to collaborate with the industry to develop
solutions that benefit and advance the industry. These
lawsuits come at a time when exploration and production companies
are experiencing tremendous growth, with frac sand use in 2017 on
pace to greatly exceed its peak set in 2014. In fact, experts
project industry demand for frac sand to exceed 100M tons per year
in 2019. Meanwhile, the industry continues to grapple with issues
related to the large-scale transport of frac sand. High levels of
truck traffic and demurrage costs, long unload times, elevated
levels of dust and noise and their impact on infrastructure and
communities near oil and gas fields all continue to present
challenges. Occupational Safety and Health Administration
regulations to control silica dust will take effect in 2018,
requiring the industry to adopt better frac sand transport,
delivery and storage mechanisms.
"To achieve U.S. energy independence, the industry requires
solutions for safe, efficient and cost-effective transportation of
frac sand," OmniTRAX CEO Kevin Shuba
said. "OmniTRAX and Arrows Up's patent portfolio is superior to
that of SandBox's and Arrows Up began developing its containers in
2010, filing multiple patent applications in October 2010. I have spoken with Bryan [Shinn, CEO of SLCA] and leadership on
multiple occasions asking that they drop this case. It's baseless,
bad for the industry and it's an attempt to diminish competition
through litigation. Filing this complaint today is now our only way
forward."
About OmniTRAX, Inc.
As one of
North America's largest private
railroad and transportation management companies, OmniTRAX's core
capabilities range from providing management services to railroad
and port services and to intermodal and industrial switching
operations. Through its affiliation with The Broe Group and
its portfolio of managed companies, OmniTRAX also has the unique
capability of offering specialized industrial development and real
estate solutions, both on and off the rail network managed by
OmniTRAX. More information is available
at www.omnitrax.com.
About Arrows Up, LLC.
Arrows Up, LLC
began following a company's request to create better products to
serve the bulk storage and transportation industry. The management
and operations teams of Arrows Up have over 65 years of combined
experience in the packaging and logistics industry. Our mission is
to create innovative, efficient and safer solutions for the bulk
storage and transportation industries. This will be accomplished by
research, customer involvement and continued experimentation with
materials, design and assemble concepts. More information is
available at http://www.arrowsupllc.com/.
CONTACT:
773-530-3168
questions@arrowsupllc.com
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SOURCE Arrows Up, LLC