Ask The Editors: Arctic Cat Versus Polaris
These rumors have been floating around for years on account of the fact that both companies are located in Minnesota and share a few key individuals along their storied histories. Among these was Edgar Hetteen, a co-founder of Polaris who would go on to be the sole founder of Arctic Cat. Additionally, Ole Tweet, former GM of Arctic Cat as well as head of the ATV Division, started his career working for Polaris as a tester/ development technician.
However there is no truth whatsoever to rumors that the two companies are in league with one another. In fact these days not only are the two companies direct competitors, Polaris is actually suing Arctic Cat for allegedly violating “Patent no. 8,596,405”, which deals with the width of a ATV with claims that Arctic Cat is violating a patent Polaris registered back in 2006.
The suit argues that Arctic Cat still manufacturers and sells its Wildcat side-by-side ATVs, “which infringe the ‘405’ patent.” Polaris seeks damages for willful infringement, plus court and attorney costs.
The case was filed on Friday Dec 27th and Arctic Cat has 60-days to respond.
More info can be found here.
