Taylors
Belgian Textile Weaver client
Weverij Van Neder NV has won its
High Court battle against Chinese
owned textile importer and
distributor Fu Long Limited and been
awarded over £375,000.Van
Neder’s claim was for an injunction
restraining copyright infringement
and damages for lost sales of two
successful jacquard designs, namely
Nevada and Arizona, that were copied
by Fu Long and marketed in the UK by
Fu Long on its website
www.fulongltd.com. Prior to the
importation of Fu Long’s copies,
sales of Van Neder’s designs had
been strong but these tailed off
when cheap reproductions flooded
into the UK market. High Court
proceedings were issued on Van
Neder’s behalf by Taylors specialist
home furnishings copyright unit.
Fu Long defended the proceedings
on the spurious ground that its
designs pre-dated those of Van Neder.
Fu Long sought to substantiate this
allegation by producing Chinese
trade mark registration documents,
but investigations conducted by
Taylors demonstrated that these
documents were forged by or on
behalf of Fu Long.
The claim against Fu Long came on
for trial in the High Court in
London on 20 June 2012 when the
Judge granted a permanent injunction
against Fu Long, its employees or
agents preventing the importation
and sale of its fabrics known as
“Script”, “Liberty” or “Libretto”
and as “Eden”, “Anthony” or
“Antonio” each of which were copies
of Van Neder’s Nevada and Arizona
designs. The Court also ordered
delivery up to Van Neder of all
residual stocks of the infringing
designs and awarded damages,
interests and costs which Fu Long
were ordered to pay in the total sum
of £375,289.
Tony Catterall, who led Taylors’
Legal Team on the project said:
"This is the third occasion
in the last 18 months in which
we have successfully defeated a
false defence to infringement
proceedings put forward by the
importers of infringing fabrics
manufactured in China. Van
Neder’s success in obtaining a
very substantial judgment for
damages and costs illustrates
that the English legal system
has teeth with which to bite
plagiarists. This judgment
should send a strong message to
those seeking to ride on the
creative efforts of reputable
designers that they will be made
to suffer the financial
consequences of their unlawful
conduct. This victory for Van
Neder represents another step
along the road towards stamping
out blatant plagiarism."
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Van Neder “Nevada”
Design |
Infringing Fu Long
“Script” and/or
“Liberty/Libretto”
Design |
 |
 |
|
Van Neder “Arizona”
Design |
Infringing Fu Long
“Eden” and/or
“Anthony/Antonio” Design |
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