BEIJING (March 19, 2012)—Bridgestone Corp. is claiming victory in a truck tire design patent infringement case in a Chinese court against China's Guangming Tyre Group Co. Ltd.
Bridgestone claims the Second Intermediate People's Court in Beijing found in December that Bridgestone's rights were violated by the Guangming Tyre Group's manufacturing and sales of tires using Bridgestone's patented truck and bus tire tread patterns and ordered Guangming to pay damages of roughly $15,800.
Bridgestone said it filed the suit in May 2011. The suit involved the tread pattern of its R152 radial truck tire, but the company did not say which of Guangming Tyre's tire brands was the offending product, which Bridgestone said it discovered at a tire distributor in China.
Guangming Tyre did not appeal this decision, Bridgestone said, thereby confirming its validity.
Bridgestone said it will continue to take aggressive action in the courts and with regulators in response to the copying and infringement of its products and services to protect consumers and to maintain and enhance Bridgestone's brand value.
Pingdu, Qingdao-based Guangming Tyre goes to market using the Riverland, Supersonic, Everbright and Lewander brand names in truck, mini-vehicle, and OTR tire, according to the website of the company Bridgestone identified as the firm it sued.
A separate search turned up a company called Qingdao Guangming Tyre Manufacture Co. Ltd. of Pingdu, Qingdao Province, which also claims to be the producer of the Riverland and Super Speed brands of all-steel truck radials.