JCB announced April 22 that it took tough action against three Far Eastern manufacturers for product copying and patent infringements...

JCB takes court action to stop product copying and patent breaches

JCB announced April 22 that it took tough action against three Far Eastern manufacturers for product copying and patent infringements of JCB’s intellectual property rights on its backhoe loader and Loadall machines.

The company successfully applied for court orders in Germany, resulting in preliminary injunctions being served against manufacturers who were exhibiting the infringing machines at the BAUMA international construction equipment show in Munich.

As a result of the tough action, the machines had to be either removed from the show and impounded or concealed from view.

“JCB will not tolerate blatant copying of its machines or infringement of internationally recognized patents and in every instance will act quickly and decisively to stamp out such unfair practices,” said Tim Burnhope, JCB’s group managing director of product development and commercial operations.

“JCB invests many years and many millions of pounds developing and innovating new products, and it’s clearly unfair for any manufacturer to then simply free-ride on the results of that investment and research,” he added. “As an industry, we all have to unite to prevent such unlawful practices.”