LAS VEGAS (Nov. 2, 2015) — Toyo Tire & Rubber Co. has won a permanent injunction against Chinese tire maker in Kabusikiki Kaisha Tokyo Hihoon Rubber Corp. in a patent infringement suit.
Besides granting the injunction Oct. 30 against the Beijing-based company and its associated business Japan Toyomoto Tire Corp., the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada also granted Toyo $300,000 in statutory damages, the tire maker said in a press release.
Toyo filed its lawsuit against the Chinese tire makers in November 2014, saying they had infringed on Toyo's trademarks and counterfeited Toyo's designs since 2010. Toyo had just discovered Toyomoto tires being exhibited at that year's SEMA Show.
When Kabusikiki and Toyomoto failed to answer Toyo's brief, Toyo asked the Nevada court for default judgment in the case.
In June 2015, Judge Cam Ferenbach asked Toyo on information on whether the Nevada court had both subject-matter jurisdiction and personal jurisdiction over the case. On July 3, after Toyo's reply, Ferenbach ruled that Toyo had proved both.
Toyo had proved convincingly that Kabusikiki and Toyomoto showed bad-faith intent to profit from Toyo's trademarks, and also Toyomoto's online domain names were confusingly similar to Toyo's, Ferenbach ruled.
The final ruling affirmed Ferenbach's earlier decision.
“Toyomoto has merely piggybacked off of Toyo's success,” the court ruled. “Toyomoto markets its counterfeit products on various deceptively named websites, passes itself off as being a Japan-based company and even exhibited its products at SEMA, a trade show that drew 60,000 buyers and that Toyo also attended.”
Toyo celebrated its court victory in the press release.
“We take counterfeiting and trademark infringement by companies such as Toyomoto very seriously, and remain committed to vigorously protection our long-established and highly reputable Toyo trade name and trademark,” said Iori Suzuki, Toyo senior vice president and general counsel.