<SEC-DOCUMENT>0001171843-18-001316.txt : 20180222
<SEC-HEADER>0001171843-18-001316.hdr.sgml : 20180222
<ACCEPTANCE-DATETIME>20180222091013
ACCESSION NUMBER:		0001171843-18-001316
CONFORMED SUBMISSION TYPE:	8-K
PUBLIC DOCUMENT COUNT:		2
CONFORMED PERIOD OF REPORT:	20180222
ITEM INFORMATION:		Regulation FD Disclosure
ITEM INFORMATION:		Financial Statements and Exhibits
FILED AS OF DATE:		20180222
DATE AS OF CHANGE:		20180222

FILER:

	COMPANY DATA:	
		COMPANY CONFORMED NAME:			Clearfield, Inc.
		CENTRAL INDEX KEY:			0000796505
		STANDARD INDUSTRIAL CLASSIFICATION:	TELEPHONE & TELEGRAPH APPARATUS [3661]
		IRS NUMBER:				411347235
		STATE OF INCORPORATION:			MN
		FISCAL YEAR END:			0930

	FILING VALUES:
		FORM TYPE:		8-K
		SEC ACT:		1934 Act
		SEC FILE NUMBER:	000-16106
		FILM NUMBER:		18630949

	BUSINESS ADDRESS:	
		STREET 1:		7050 WINNETKA AVE. N.
		STREET 2:		SUITE 100
		CITY:			BROOKLYN PARK
		STATE:			MN
		ZIP:			55428
		BUSINESS PHONE:		763-476-6866

	MAIL ADDRESS:	
		STREET 1:		7050 WINNETKA AVE. N.
		STREET 2:		SUITE 100
		CITY:			BROOKLYN PARK
		STATE:			MN
		ZIP:			55428

	FORMER COMPANY:	
		FORMER CONFORMED NAME:	APA Enterprises, Inc.
		DATE OF NAME CHANGE:	20041116

	FORMER COMPANY:	
		FORMER CONFORMED NAME:	APA OPTICS INC /MN/
		DATE OF NAME CHANGE:	19920703
</SEC-HEADER>
<DOCUMENT>
<TYPE>8-K
<SEQUENCE>1
<FILENAME>f8k_022218.htm
<DESCRIPTION>FORM 8-K
<TEXT>
<html><head><title></title></head><body><div style="margin-top: 3pt; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><div style="font-size: 1pt; border-top: Black 2.5pt solid; border-bottom: Black 1.1pt solid; width: 100%;"><font style="font-size: 10pt;">&#160;</font></div></div><p style="text-align: center;"><font style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>UNITED STATES</strong><br /><strong>SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION</strong><br /><strong>Washington, D.C. 20549</strong><br />_____________________</font></p><p style="text-transform: uppercase; text-align: center;"><font style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Form 8-K</strong><br />_____________________</font></p><p style="text-align: center;"><font style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>CURRENT REPORT</strong></font></p><p style="text-align: center;"><font style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934</strong></font></p><p align="center"><font style="font-size: 10pt;">Date of Report (Date of earliest event Reported): <!--February 22, 2018-->February 22, 2018 &#160;</font></p><p align="center"><font style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>CLEARFIELD, INC.</strong></font><br /><font style="font-size: 10pt;">(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Charter)</font></p><table style="width: 100%;" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tr valign="top"><td align="center" width="33%"><font style="font-size: 10pt;"><strong>Minnesota</strong></font></td><td align="center" width="34%"><font style="font-size: 10pt;"><strong>0-16106</strong></font></td><td align="center" width="33%"><font style="font-size: 10pt;"><strong>41-1347235</strong></font></td></tr><tr valign="top"><td align="center" width="33%"><font style="font-size: 10pt;">(State or Other Jurisdiction of Incorporation)</font></td><td align="center" width="34%"><font style="font-size: 10pt;">(Commission File Number)</font></td><td align="center" width="33%"><font style="font-size: 10pt;">(I.R.S. 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[&#160;&#160; ]</p><div style="margin-top: 12pt; margin-bottom: 3pt;"><div style="font-size: 1pt; border-top: Black 1.1pt solid; border-bottom: Black 2.5pt solid; width: 100%;"><font style="font-size: 10pt;">&#160;</font></div>&#160;</div><hr style="page-break-after: always;" noshade="noshade" /><p><font style="font-size: 10pt;">Items under Sections 1 through 6 and 8 are not applicable and therefore omitted.</font></p><p>  <strong>  </strong></p><p><font style="font-size: 10pt;"><strong>Item 7.01. Regulation FD Disclosure.</strong></font></p><p><font style="font-size: 10pt;"><p>On February 22, 2018, Clearfield, Inc. (the &#8220;Company&#8221;) issued a press release jointly with CommScope Technologies LLC (&#8220;CommScope&#8221;) regarding the settlement in principle of the patent infringement lawsuit CommScope filed against the Company in January 2017, which press release is attached hereto as Exhibit 99.1.</p><p>The information in this Item 7.01 and Exhibit 99.1 is intended to be furnished under Item 7.01 and shall not be deemed &#8220;filed&#8221; for purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the &#8220;Exchange Act&#8221;), or otherwise subject to the liabilities of that section, and shall not be deemed incorporated by reference in any filing under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Exchange Act, except as expressly set forth by specific reference in such filing.</p></font></p><p /><font style="font-size: 10pt;"><strong>  </strong><p /><p><font style="font-size: 10pt;"><strong>Item 9.01. Financial Statements and Exhibits.</strong></font></p><p><font style="font-size: 10pt;"><table class="mce-item-table" style="font-size: 10pt;" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tr><td style="text-decoration-line: underline;" valign="bottom"><u><font style="font-size: 10pt;">Exhibit No.</font></u></td><td width="20"><font style="font-size: 10pt;">&#160;</font></td><td style="text-decoration-line: underline;" valign="bottom"><u><font style="font-size: 10pt;">Description</font></u></td></tr><tr><td>&#160;</td><td width="20"><font style="font-size: 10pt;">&#160;</font></td><td><font style="font-size: 10pt;">&#160;</font></td></tr><tr><td><font style="font-size: 10pt;"><a href="exh_991.htm">99.1</a></font></td><td width="20"><font style="font-size: 10pt;">&#160;</font></td><td><font style="font-size: 10pt;">Press Release Issued on February 22, 2018 by Clearfield, Inc.&#160;</font></td></tr></table></font></p><p><font style="font-size: 10pt;"></font></p><p><font style="font-size: 10pt;"></font></p><hr style="page-break-after: always;" noshade="noshade" /><p align="center"><font style="font-size: 10pt;"><strong>SIGNATURE</strong></font></p><p><font style="font-size: 10pt;">Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.</font></p><table style="width: 100%;" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tr valign="top"><td valign="top" width="49%"><font style="font-size: 10pt;">&#160;</font></td><td style="font-size: 12pt;" colspan="2" valign="top"><font style="font-size: 10pt;"><strong>CLEARFIELD, INC.</strong></font></td></tr><tr valign="top"><td width="49%"><font style="font-size: 10pt;">&#160;</font></td><td width="2%"><font style="font-size: 10pt;">&#160;</font></td><td width="49%"><font style="font-size: 10pt;">&#160;</font></td></tr><tr valign="top"><td width="49%"><font style="font-size: 10pt;">&#160;</font></td><td width="2%"><font style="font-size: 10pt;">&#160;</font></td><td width="49%"><font style="font-size: 10pt;"></font></td></tr><tr valign="top"><td width="49%"><font style="font-size: 10pt;">Date: February 22, 2018</font></td><td width="2%"><font style="font-size: 10pt;">By:&#160;</font></td><td style="text-decoration: underline;" width="49%"><font style="font-size: 10pt;">/s/ Cheryl Beranek&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;</font></td></tr><tr valign="top"><td width="49%"><font style="font-size: 10pt;">&#160;</font></td><td width="2%"><font style="font-size: 10pt;">&#160;</font></td><td width="49%"><font style="font-size: 10pt;">Cheryl Beranek</font></td></tr><tr valign="top"><td width="49%"><font style="font-size: 10pt;">&#160;</font></td><td width="2%"><font style="font-size: 10pt;">&#160;</font></td><td width="49%"><font style="font-size: 10pt;">Chief Executive Officer</font></td></tr><tr valign="top"><td width="49%"><font style="font-size: 10pt;">&#160;</font></td><td width="2%"><font style="font-size: 10pt;">&#160;</font></td><td width="49%"><font style="font-size: 10pt;"></font></td></tr></table><p /></font></body></html>
</TEXT>
</DOCUMENT>
<DOCUMENT>
<TYPE>EX-99.1
<SEQUENCE>2
<FILENAME>exh_991.htm
<DESCRIPTION>PRESS RELEASE
<TEXT>
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"><html lang="en-US"><head><title>EdgarFiling</title><meta content="text/html; charset=windows-1252" ><meta name="GENERATOR" content="MSHTML 8.00.7601.18094" ></head><body bgcolor="#ffffff"><p style="text-align: right;"><strong>EXHIBIT 99.1</strong></p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>CommScope, Clearfield Agree to Patent Lawsuit Settlement</strong></p><p style="text-align: center;" ></p><p>
 <p align="left">HICKORY, N.C. and MINNEAPOLIS, MN, Feb.  22, 2018  (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CommScope, a global leader in infrastructure solutions for communications networks, and Clearfield, Inc.,&#160;the specialist in fiber management and connectivity platforms for communications providers, have agreed to terms of a settlement that would resolve the patent infringement lawsuit CommScope filed against Clearfield in January 2017 (<em>CommScope Technologies, LLC v. Clearfield, Inc.</em>, 17-cv-307 (D. Minn.)).</p>  <p>In&#160;the suit, CommScope claimed infringement of 13 patents relating to CommScope fiber-to-the-X (FTTx) innovations by certain features of specific models of Clearfield&#8217;s cabinet, splitter, and terminal products.&#160;Clearfield responded with affirmative defenses and filed <em>inter partes</em> reviews with the US Patent and Trademark Office relating to some of the asserted patents.&#160;&#160;</p>  <p>As part of the settlement, the parties will jointly dismiss the litigation and withdraw the <em>inter-partes </em>reviews.&#160; In addition, Clearfield has moved to new design solutions in place&#160;of the contested products, and will pay CommScope a one-time payment of $850,000.&#160;</p>  <p><strong>About CommScope:</strong><br >CommScope (NASDAQ:COMM) helps design, build and manage wired and wireless networks around the world. As a communications infrastructure leader, we shape the always-on networks of tomorrow. For more than 40 years, our global team of greater than 20,000 employees, innovators and technologists have empowered customers in all regions of the world to anticipate what&#8217;s next and push the boundaries of what&#8217;s possible. Discover more at http://www.commscope.com.</p>  <p>Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn and like us on Facebook.<br >Sign up for our press releases and blog posts.</p>  <p><strong>About Clearfield, Inc.:</strong><br >Clearfield, Inc. (NASDAQ:CLFD) designs, manufactures and distributes fiber optic management, protection and delivery products for communications networks. Our &#8220;fiber to anywhere&#8221; platform serves the unique requirements of leading incumbent local exchange carriers (traditional carriers), competitive local exchange carriers (alternative carriers), and MSO/cable TV companies, while also catering to the broadband needs of the utility/municipality, enterprise, data center and military markets.&#160; Headquartered in Minneapolis, MN, Clearfield deploys more than a million fiber ports each year. For more information, visit www.SeeClearfield.com</p>  <p><strong>CommScope News Media Contact</strong><br >Rick Aspan, CommScope<br >+1 708-236-6568 &#160;<br >publicrelations@commscope.com</p>  <p><strong><strong>Clearfield Media &amp; Analyst Contact<br ></strong></strong>Richard M. Williams<br >Witz Communications<br >+1 919-435-9110<br >rmwilliams@witzcommunications.com</p>  <p><strong>CommScope Financial Contact</strong><br >Jennifer Crawford, CommScope<br >+1 828-323-4970</p>  <p><strong>Clearfield Investor Relations Contact</strong><br >Matt Glover and Najim Mostamand, CFA<br >Liolios Group, Inc.<br >+1 949-574-3860<br >clfd@liolios.com</p> </p><p ></p></body></html>
</TEXT>
</DOCUMENT>
</SEC-DOCUMENT>
