On June 17, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin found Chinese furniture maker Man Wah Holdings Ltd., Inc., guilty of infringing multiple patents owned by American furniture maker Raffel Systems, LLC, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. And deliberately misappropriating the commercial appearance of its products, it is necessary to compensate it for nearly 106.8 million US dollars (about 714.33 million yuan), the relevant patent is related to the multi-functional light-emitting cup holder installed on the furniture.
The jury awarded Raffel approximately $9.3 million in compensatory damages for mislabeling, patent infringement and trade appearance infringement. The jury also added $97.5 million in punitive damages for maliciously misappropriating the commercial appearance of Raffel's cup holders. The total compensation was $106.8 million, or about 708 million yuan.
Tortious cup holder
According to the report, Minhua Holdings was originally a customer of Raffel, and at the end of 2017, Minhua Holdings hired a company to copy and produce Raffel's luminous cup holder, whose design and appearance are almost the same as Raffel's product, and the product also bears Raffel's patent number. Minhua, meanwhile, still buys genuine goods from Raffel, though in diminishing quantities. In the complaint, Raffel argued that this was a way for Minhua to cover up, making it difficult for Raffel to detect Minhua's counterfeiting. In 2018, due to the failure of the imitation, some American users of Minhua Holdings directly contacted Raffel to ask for a replacement, which was discovered.
In November 2018, Raffel sued Minhua Holdings in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, alleging infringement of seven patents, The numbers are 7,766,293, 8,714,505, 8,973,882, 10,051,968, 10,299,603, D643,252, and D821,986. The first five patents are titled "Light cup holders in seat devices," and the last two are design patents named "cup holders" and "switches." Raffel filed a total of 15 claims, in addition to patent infringement, other claims include: false labeling, trade dress infringement, unfair competition and false origin marking, trade dress dilution, trade secret misappropriation, unjust enrichment, breach of contract, breach of obligations in good faith and fair dealing. Raffel is seeking more than $10 million in damages from Minhua.
Raffel believes that Minhua sold a total of about 60,000 fakes in 2018, and there are still about 14,000 fakes in circulation, which means Raffel could continue to suffer brand damage in the coming years. Minhua Holdings argued that Raffel's total sales revenue from 2016 to 2018 was only $24.4 million, so it is seeking excessive compensation.
On June 17, the District court jury finally awarded Raffel nearly 106.8 million in damages.
Minhua Holdings was founded in 1992 and is now headquartered in Hong Kong, China. It was listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange in 2005 and then on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2010. Its main products include functional sofas, technology mattresses, sponges and panel furniture. The company owns the brands "Cheers" and "Fleming".
Raffel was founded in 1982 and is now headquartered in Germantown Village, Washington County, Wisconsin, USA. Raffel is a small company with about 30 employees at its headquarters, including engineers and designers, and most of its products are produced by a Chinese subsidiary. The company specializes in the development of electronic systems and components that go with furniture, and holds more than 60 patents in technology related to seating devices alone. Its electronic systems and components are used in theater-style seats and sports furniture to control seat backs, foot supports, headrests, massagers and other functions. Raffel has dozens of regular customers, and Minhua is one of them.
Source: Intellectual Property Community Roundup Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Today Furniture, etc
Related Cases
Telephone：
Telephone：+86-755-82566227、82566717、13751089600
Head Office：13 / F, Building 14, Longhua Science and Technology Innovation Center (Mission Hills), No. 8 Golf Avenue, Guanlan Street, Longhua District, Shenzhen
Head Office：
13 / F, Building 14, Longhua Science and Technology Innovation Center (Mission Hills), No. 8 Golf Avenue, Guanlan Street, Longhua District, Shenzhen
Subsidiary Company：2808, Block B2, Yuexiu Xinghui Junbo, No.18 Tazihu East Road, Jiangan District, Wuhan City, Hubei Province
Subsidiary Company：
2808, Block B2, Yuexiu Xinghui Junbo, No.18 Tazihu East Road, Jiangan District, Wuhan City, Hubei Province
Service Number
Subscription Number
Copyright ©2016 Shenzhen Shenkexin patent Agency Co., LTD All rights reserved | 粤ICP备2021174526号
Copyright ©2016 深圳市深可信专利代理有限公司 版权所有 | 粤ICP备2021174526号 SEO标签
Copyright ©2016 深圳市深可信专利代理有限公司 版权所有
