Vienna-based equipment manufacturer Starlinger & Co Gesellschaft mbH, which has production plants in Austria, Germany and China, sued Chinese machine manufacturers and their customers (packaging producers) based on infringement of several of Starlinger’s patents. The legal proceedings have been settled with strict obligations for the equipment manufacturers.
 
“Only the best are copied, as the saying goes. However, this is little consolation if it has economic consequences for innovative machine manufacturers like us,” said Harald Neumüller, CSO of Starlinger. “Starlinger is strong in research and development. This ensures our technological leadership. Due to plagiarism, novel technologies have to be brought to market faster and faster in order to maintain a technological lead. Patents protect our developments and enable us to sell innovative machines over a period of time. It is therefore a great and important success that we were able to enforce our claims and the machine manufacturers had to stop producing and selling the copied machines. Intellectual property rights are to be respected.”
 
The out-of-court settlement was reached in the course of lengthy proceedings before both a civil court and a court specialised in intellectual property in China. The equipment manufacturers in question confirmed the patent infringements and immediately ceased production and sales of the copied equipment. Customers of such equipment manufacturers can be sued, too—after all, as purchasers and users of copied machines they are considered as patent infringers as well. In the present case, the machine is a replica of the ad*starKON sack conversion line for producing woven plastic sacks marketed under the brand name “AD*STAR”. Starlinger holds several patents on this line. Many packaging producers, especially in Asia, use Starlinger’s ad*starKON conversion lines to manufacture AD*STAR block bottom valve sacks made of polypropylene tape fabric for the cement and construction industries, but also for other dry bulk goods such as rice, flour or chemical granulates.
 
“We see that our legal action against copyists and users of copied technologies in China, but also in other countries, is showing effect, and we expect people will refrain from misappropriating intellectual property in future. By this, we are not only protecting ourselves from plagiarism, but consequently also our customers and their markets where they sell high-quality products manufactured on our machines,” Mr Neumüller added.