Court upholds Bridgestone design rights claim

A Chinese court has ruled in favour of Bridgestone Corporation in a lawsuit filed against the country’s largest privately-owned tyre maker, Triangle Tyre Co., Ltd. The case involved Triangle Tyre’s use of a tread pattern that shared more than a passing resemblance to an existing Bridgestone pattern.

After Bridgestone learned that Triangle Tyre had been manufacturing and selling tyres with a tread pattern that Bridgestone holds the exclusive design rights to, it filed a lawsuit with the Intermediate People’s Court in Changchun in October 2013. The lawsuit claimed that Triangle Tyre’s activities constituted an infringement of Bridgestone’s design rights. The Japanese manufacturer’s claim was upheld in July 2015, and the court ordered Triangle Tyre to cease the manufacture and sale of tyres featuring the tread pattern. While Triangle Tyre appealed this ruling, the High People’s Court in Jilin Province upheld the original ruling in January 2016.