Lusheng, Rouse's strategic partner in China, has announced a significant win in a trade mark infringement case
Lusheng, a strategic partner of UK-headquartered IP services firm Rouse, today announced a significant win in a trade mark infringement case for Juratek, a leading European original equipment manufacturer (OEM). The case was brought against it by Laizhou Baoyi Machinery Co. (Baoyi), a Chinese parts manufacturer.
Lusheng represented Juratek against Baoyi for trade mark ‘squatting’, in which companies deliberately register other brands’ trade marks. Generally, the aim of trade mark squatting is to sell the trade mark back to the original owners for an exorbitant amount; or to sell counterfeit products under the trade mark registered in China.
The Juratek win supports the Chinese courts’ recent efforts to crack down on trade mark squatting.
Winning this case is a huge milestone for OEMs in China, which typically face an uphill battle in fights against trade mark squatters. OEM businesses are commonly found to be infringing the squatter’s rights when a squatter has registered similar trade marks to theirs. Chinese courts have difficulty supporting an OEM party's claim that it does not infringe Chinese registered trade mark rights by virtue of its trade mark rights abroad. This means that victims of squatting in China could find their products which had been manufactured for export only, could be seized by Customs and prevented from being exported.
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