• Factory Automation Systems

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 3371

TOKYO, September 15, 2020 - Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (TOKYO: 6503) announced today that the Guangzhou Intellectual Property Court has upheld an earlier ruling in Mitsubishi Electric's favor regarding infringement of the company's trademarks by Guangzhou Lingye Automation Equipment, Guangzhou Longyan Automation Technology, Guangzhou Ouye Automation Technology and their owners located in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China.

The defendants manufactured and sold a large quantity of dead copy products, including PLCs, AC servos, inverters and other factory-automation equipment bearing counterfeit Mitsubishi trademarks, beginning in around 2012. The defendants were convicted of illegally manufacturing and selling these products in May 2016, after which Mitsubishi Electric sued the defendants for trademark infringement and won the case.

Mitsubishi Electric will continue to take strict measures against producers of counterfeit products through the detection, and application of legal measures to protect its brand value, so that customers may continue to use its products with peace of mind.

Outline of Lawsuit

  1. 1. Defendants
    Guangzhou Lingye Automation Equipment, Guangzhou Longyan Automation Technology, Guangzhou Ouye Automation Technology and their owners
  2. 2. Infringing products
    PLCs, AC servos, inverters, etc. manufactured and sold by the Defendants
  3. 3. Infringed trademarks
    3 trademarks: Mitsubishi(Japanese characters), MITSUBISHI and Mitsubishi(Logo)
  4. 4. Mitsubishi Electric's claims
    The Defendants must pay compensation and publish an apology statement to eliminate the effects of infringement
  5. 5. Courts
    Initial ruling: Tianhe People's Court, Guangzhou City
    Appellate ruling: Guangzhou Intellectual Property Court
  6. 6. Dates of rulings
    Initial ruling: November 8, 2018
    Appellate ruling: July 31, 2020
  7. 7. Details of appellate ruling
    The defendants must pay compensation of 2.66 million RMB in damages and must issue a public statement in which they admit their wrongdoing and apologize for the harm they caused by producing counterfeit products that infringed on Mitsubishi Electric's trademarks (published in Guangdong daily newspaper on September 1, 2020).

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