JCB claims victory in French copycat action
JCB has claimed victory in its latest intellectual property battle in a French court – although its rivals have said “non!”.
The Staffordshire group declared it had been granted a preliminary injunction against Manitou which orders the company to stop producing telehandlers featuring a patented JCB productivity device.
But Manitou responded to JCB’s statement, which it said was “likely to mislead the public”.
The Nantes-based company said the Judge at Court of the First Instance in Paris dismissed JCB’s application for an injunction relating to one patent. It said the second patent, which is covered by the injunction, only covers models manufactured before August 2017.
The ruling awarded costs to JCB, but Manitou has said it will appeal.
JCB chief executive Graeme Macdonald said: “We invest many millions of pounds in developing and patenting innovative and sophisticated engineering solutions which benefit our customers all over the world.
“We will not tolerate any copying or infringement of our intellectual property rights wherever in the world they occur.”
The patented feature is part of JCB’s Longitudinal Load Moment Control (LLMC) system. The system is designed to detect changes in the rear axle weight, to prevent tipping. However the patent that is the subject of the legal action shuts off that system when the machine is moving to prevent false indications of instability.
