Construction engineering firm Seismic Structural Design Associates, Inc. (SSDA)
has filed a patent infringement lawsuit alleging that a structural engineering
firm has used its patented award-nominated SlottedWeb(TM) structural steel seismic
connection in building construction without authorization.
The SlottedWeb connection is a cost-effective, structurally important design
that has become the standard for earthquake resistant construction. Washington,
DC-based law firm Venable LLP will represent SSDA in the patent action. The
suit, filed yesterday in Los Angeles federal district court, charges that WHL
Consulting Engineers, Inc. and its Principal, Lauren D. Carpenter, Ph.D. have
engaged in various infringements of SSDA's patented designs, including at Constellation
Place, a high-rise property designed by architect Johnson Fain Partners, developed
by JMB Realty Investment Partners, and built by Hathaway-Dinwiddie Construction
with steel subcontractor Herrick Corporation.
The suit seeks actual and enhanced money damages, and a preliminary and permanent
injunction prohibiting WHL and Dr. Carpenter from using SSDA's patented designs.
The SlottedWeb connection, which was nominated for a 2002 NOVA Award for innovation
in the construction industry, works to improve the popular but fundamentally
flawed pre-Northridge earthquake field-welded, field-bolted beam-to-column moment
frame connection. Longitudinal slots are cut to separate beam flanges from the
beam web in the region of the connection, and the beam web is welded to the
column flange. These changes dramatically alter the force, stress, and strain
distributions to make the connection cost effective for both new and retrofit
construction.
There are two other designs that also fix the pre-Northridge flaw, but both
are significantly more expensive than the SlottedWeb.
The SlottedWeb connection has been approved for general use as a pre-qualified
connection in Special Moment Frames (SMF) by the International Code Council
(ICC). It also satisfies the April 15, 1997 Seismic Provisions for Structural
Steel Buildings of the American Institute for Steel Construction (http://www.aisc.org),
as well as its Supplements No. 1 dated February 15, 1999 and No. 2 dated November
10, 2000. A description of the SlottedWeb connection is also shown in widely
disseminated publications of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (http://www.fema.gov),
such as FEMA-350 "Recommended Seismic Design Criteria for New Steel Moment-Frame
Buildings," and in FEMA-351 "Recommended Seismic Evaluation and Upgrade Criteria
for Existing Steel Moment-Frame Buildings."
Posted 21 September 2005
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