Business

Ishida, the Japanese manufacturer of weighing, packing and labelling equipment, used Interpack to mount a major patent-infringement offensive against a group of rival Chinese suppliers.

The firm successfully gained injunctions against three Chinese makers of waterproof multi-head weighers on the day before the show opened.

Jinyi and Saimo both covered the offending products, while High Dream packed up its equipment and left the show, following the injunction on 23 April from the Regional Court of Düsseldorf.

Ishida followed this up with action against Aochi, Kaidi, Shunde Jingwei, MESC, Multiweigh and Hi-Speed.

However, Saimo vowed to fight the injunction and UK head Alan Ross said the company was seeking legal advice. If the company managed to overturn the injunction, Ross said it would seek compensation.

"We truly believe we are not infringing anyone's patents," he said.

Ishida Europe marketing director Paul Griffin said the firm had gone to Interpack with the intention of taking action against any products it believed were infringing its patents.

"It's very difficult to take action in some countries where they are selling," he said.

"But in Western Europe, Japan and the US, intellectual property and patents are much easier to uphold. We said internally six months ago that if companies brought infringing machines to Interpack, we would take action."
Ishida staff walked around the show when companies were setting up their stands to see if any could be infringing the firm's patents.

"This gave us clear evidence that they were trying to sell or promote their machines here," said Griffin.

He also denied that Ishida was effectively taking action against a country, China, rather than individual companies.

"We have a factory in China for retail scales and we employ people there," he said.