COLMAR, Pa. — Dorman Products says it has negotiated business resolution in its dispute with Gates Corp. over certain statements made by both Dorman and Gates pertaining to Dorman’s automatic belt tensioners.

Gates initially filed a lawsuit against Dorman in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado in late August 2009. The lawsuit alleged that Dorman engaged in false advertising and unfair competition based on Dorman’s advertising and sale of certain aftermarket automatic belt tensioners.

Under the terms of the resolution, Dorman agreed to cease using the phrases "Meets All SAE Specifications," "OE Solutions," "OE Quality" and "OE Performance" with respect to only its automatic belt tensioners.

"We are committed to and will continue to expand our quality engineered belt tensioner product line. Our customers are best served when we are focusing on new product development and not on litigation that offers no real value to them," said Dorman President Steven Berman. "This resolution ends the burden, expense and distraction of this litigation that has been pending for nearly nine months."

Gates is an OE supplier of tensioners on all continents supplying every major OEM, and offers a full line of 550 automatic belt tensioners globally. 

“We felt it was critical to take legal action to prevent confusion in the market as to tensioner quality and performance,” said David Miller, vice president of global product marketing for Gates. “As a complete belt systems supplier, Gates is aware of the effects of tensioner quality. OE quality tensioners maximize life and performance of every component in the accessory belt drive system.”