On December 13 and 14, the Intellectual Property (IP) Tribunal of the Supreme People’s Court of China ruled in favor of VMI and against Safe-Run in litigation related to disputes over patent ownership.
The patents in dispute were CN104354311B (201410624213.1), CN201610332841.1 and CN201620457270.X, and VMI successfully proved that the company’s key technology on the vertical moving drum (in addition to the steering device) qualified as protectable trade secrets. The court also concluded that Safe-Run misappropriated these trade secrets and has awarded the patents – as filed by Safe-Run – back to VMI.
The case focused on an attempted hijacking of VMI proprietary IP by Safe-Run, which misappropriated VMI technology to copy VMI’s entire tire building machines. Safe-Run then filed the misappropriated VMI technology as patents under its company name.
Having reviewed a significant amount of evidence presented by VMI, in addition to analyzing claims made by Safe-Run, the highest court in China made its final decisions in favor of VMI. Despite the recent conclusion, further legal action continues between VMI and Safe-Run.
