Camtex Fabrics successfully sues infringer Wenzhou Superteng
09/05/2016
The court found that Wenzhou Superteng had infringed Article 57 of the trademark law of the People’s Republic of China. The authorities had previously confiscated 6.2 tonnes of imitation piqué Cambrelle fabric along with an embossing roll that had enabled the company to copy the trademarked design.
Camtex Fabrics managing director, Kieran O’Hare, decided to press charges against Wenzhou Superteng having caught the company brazenly selling material it claimed was Cambrelle at the INDEX exhibition in Geneva in 2014. Not only was the Chinese company exhibiting the imitation fabric on its stand, it also had the Cambrelle logo on posters and business cards.
Tracking them to the Cinte Techtextil China, in September 2014, Mr O’Hare again saw Wenzhou Superteng representatives openly promoting and claiming to sell Cambrelle. On this occasion, with the assistance of a local law firm, he was able to have the product removed from the stand and to initiate a legal case against the defendant in China.
Following the court’s decision, Mr O’Hare said securing the help of local legal experts and of Cosmo, Camtex Fabrics’ joint-venture partner in Hong Kong, had been crucial in his company’s victory over the counterfeiters. He said it was Cosmo who pursued the offenders. “You can’t do this from afar,” he explained. “You need to be on the ground to gather evidence and to convince the authorities to investigate and verify for themselves what is going on.”
Josh VanDernoot, president of Cosmo said: “The decision to take the case to court shows our customers that we are willing to protect this valuable trademark in China so that they can be confident that when buying Cambrelle through official suppliers they know they are getting the real thing.”
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