Canon announced that they have successfully reached an agreement with one of China’s leading logistics and fulfillment companies in a dispute over the warehousing and shipping of counterfeit “Canon” camera batteries into the United States for China-based sellers. As part of the settlement, the fulfillment/shipping company agreed to cease distribution of infringing products to consumers in the United States.
Over the last two years, Canon’s investigation into counterfeiting uncovered a new shipping method that China-based sellers are using to bring their infringing goods into the United States. Instead of shipping the goods directly to consumers in the United States, China-based sellers are now sending their goods in bulk to large fulfillment warehouses that are located in the United States. These warehouses then ship the infringing goods to consumers in the United States. This new method not only enables China-based merchants to indirectly ship their counterfeit goods swiftly to American and Canadian consumers, but also makes it harder for branded manufacturers to track and prevent the flow of counterfeit goods.
“After we discovered that China-based infringers were using this new shipment method to bring counterfeit Canon batteries into the United States, we started working on a creative strategy to remove these counterfeit products from the market. We were able to find an innovative solution by proceeding directly against the fulfillment/warehouser to halt the distribution of these fake goods in the United States,” said Seymour Liebman, executive vice president, chief administrative officer & general counsel of Canon U.S.A., Inc. “We believe that we are the first intellectual property owner to successfully stop this new method of importation and distribution, and we hope other companies will follow our lead and utilize this novel approach to stopping counterfeiters.”
The Canon companies are represented by Mark Schonfeld, a partner in the Boston office of Burns & Levinson LLP, who negotiated the settlement with the U.S.-based fulfillment company.
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