Rob Vassallo, the owner of Australia’s Jett Performance Products, says his designs for a battery powered heated vest that he showed to Rip Curl in 2005 are now being used by the company in their H-Bomb wetsuit and he is not getting paid, according to a story on News.com.au.
“They loved the technology and, after I provided mock-up samples, they sent prototypes to the US for feedback and finally, in 2006, they ordered 500 units,” he said. . . . Rip Curl unveiled the wetsuit last year as the H-bomb using a surfing video shot in Iceland. . . Mr Vassallo said that a week later Rip Curl told him it had lost faith in Jett’s ability to make the wetsuit.
Rip Curl says they have only sold 200 of the suits and that they “absolutely refute the idea that we have stolen anything from Rob Vassallo or Jett,” according to spokesman Gary Dunne. Vassallo, of course doesn’t not agree.
[Link: News.com.au]
