FOREO wins infringement case
The local operation of Swedish beauty and wellness brand FOREO won nearly 3-million-yuan (US$422,898) in compensation from two companies based in Zhuhai and Zhongshan, in Guangdong Province, which produced facial cleansing devices that were nearly identical to its LUNA 2 product, the Shanghai Intellectual Property Court announced on Wednesday.
The majority of the compensation will be paid by the two companies, while their franchiser was also ordered to bear joint liability for the involved products' sales and pay an amount under 50,000 yuan.
According to the court, FOREO, the design patent owner of its facial cleansing device LUNA 2, found that products made by Zhuhai Golden Rice Electric Appliance Co and Zhongshan Golden Rice Electric Appliance Co, two entities of domestic beauty brand Kingdomcares, looked nearly identical to its LUNA series.
FOREO took the two companies and their local franchiser, Shanghai Zhuokang Industrial Co, to the Shanghai Intellectual Property Court and demanded compensation of 3 million yuan.
The court confirmed that the two companies infringed on FOREO's patent and ordered them to pay the requested amount.
Since the franchiser continued to sell the infringing products on its online stores after the two manufacturers were sued, it should bear part of the liability, according to the court.
Based on sales records from the two companies, over 358,000 such products had been sold, worth a total sales amount surpassing 35 million yuan.
The court estimated that the economic loss FOREO suffered from the infringement exceeds the 3 million yuan it demanded.
A facial cleansing product made by two appliance companies based in Guangdong Province.
FOREO's facial cleansing device, the LUNA.
