Taking On China Patent Infringment At Home
Interesting post over at IP Dragon on an American company's United States patent infringement lawsuit against a Chinese company.
Here are the facts, as related by this article in the Worcester Telegram. US company Diamond Machining Technology (DMT), Inc., is a 30 person Marlboro, Massachusetts company that makes sharpening tools for knives, scissors, skies, and woodworking. I was familiar with the company because my wife swears by their knife sharpening stones. DMT was exhibiting at the National Hardware Show in Las Vegas when its President, Mark Brandon, came upon the booth of Chinese company Jing Yin Lixin [Diamond Tools Factory], selling knockoffs of a couple DMT sharpening products.
Mr. Brandon then asked a worker from one of DMT’s customers to visit the Chinese booth to confirm Jing Yin Lixin would sell the knockoffs in the United States. The article does not say this, but securing this information was presumably necessary because DMT's patents cover only the United States. After DMT's customer confirmed Jing Lin Lixin was happy to sell the knockoffs into the United States, DMT retained lawyers who drafted a complaint, saw to its service on Jing Yin Lixin on the floor of the trade show, and filed it in Nevada Federal Court.
Jing Yin Lixin put up no legal defense. It failed to retain a lawyer and merely submitted a letter to the court claiming it "knew nothing about a patent and never made or sold the tools, even though it pictured the tools on a brochure." The court permanently enjoined Jing Yin Lixin from further infringement.
I was unable to get onto the Nevada court site to see about damages in the case (confession: I always have my legal assistant do this for me and it is a Saturday here so that is not possible). The thing is, even if the court did award damages, it is extremely unlikely any Chinese court would enforce such a U.S. judgment.
Damages or not, DMT did the right thing here. Mr. Brandon "wants competitors to know DMT will not tolerate copycats, and he wants customers to feel confident that the product they buy is a true, made-in-the-USA tool." I would not expect Jing Lin Lixin will be selling DMT knockoffs in the United States for quite some time.
