Rieter wins patent dispute in China

Rieter Ingolstadt GmbH (Winterthur, Switzerland) reported on August 13 that in mid-July 2020, in a legal dispute, the Shanghai Intellectual Property Court of the People’s Republic of China ruled in favor of the company. In 2018, Rieter registered design infringements by Shenyang Hongda Textile Machinery Co., Ltd. (Shenyang, China) in relation to double-head draw frames and decided to file a lawsuit against the Chinese company.

Rieter says that, as its machines stand for outstanding quality, high operational safety, excellent performance and user-friendliness as well as unique design, competitors often copy the machine concepts, or event adopt its design. As a result, this usually qualifies for the company to protect its innovations and products with patents and registered designs.

According to the dispute decision, the Shanghai Intellectual Property Court of the People’s Republic of China determined that the double-head draw frames JWF1316 and JWF1316T of Shenyang Hongda Textile Machinery Co., Ltd. were similar to and fell within the scope of protection of the design patent concerned. The defendant Shenyang Hongda Textile Machinery Co., Ltd. was sentenced to compensate the plaintiff Rieter Ingolstadt GmbH for financial losses and expenses.

Rieter is the world’s leading supplier of systems for short-staple fiber spinning. Based in Switzerland, the company develops and manufactures machinery, systems and components used to convert natural and man-made fibers and their blends into yarns. Rieter is the only supplier worldwide to cover spinning preparation processes as well as all four end spinning processes currently established on the market. Furthermore, Rieter is a leader in the field of precision winding machines. With 16 manufacturing locations in ten countries, the company employs a global workforce of some 4,570, about 21% of whom are based in Switzerland. Rieter is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange under ticker symbol RIEN.