Toyo wins trademark infringement case

Cypress, California – Toyo Tire Holdings of Americas Inc. has won a ruling against Singapore-based Fitinparts Pte. Ltd. in the US District Court for the Central District of California in connection with Toyo’s claims of trademark infringement and false advertising.

The court awarded Toyo on 3 June attorney’s fees in connection Toyo’s motion for judgment against the defendants – which included Fitinparts, its related subsidiaries and foreign affiliates.

Toyo said in a 7 June release that the count found the “defendants adopted their ToyoGuard designation with the intent of deriving benefit from the reputation of Toyo’s trademarks.”

“We are pleased the court ruled in our favour,” said Lori Suzuki, president of Toyo Tire Holdings of Americas. “Toyo takes trademark infringement and false advertising by other companies very seriously and will continue to vigorously protect our long-established and highly reputable Toyo trademarks and the product quality and goodwill that they represent.”

The court also said that “defendants have advertised products ‘made by ToyoGuard (Japan),’ when there is no such entity that manufactures these products. Defendants have made a ‘literally false’ statement of fact in a commercial advertisement.”

Toyo accused Fitinparts of selling automotive related products on their website under the name “ToyoGuard,” which infringed several of Toyo’s trademarks and used Toyo’s logo style.

Toyo said the court granted a broad injunction against the defendants that precludes, among other acts:

Using ‘ToyoGuard,’ or any term confusingly similar to the Toyo marks;

Making any false statement or representation as to the source of any goods; and

Using any name, mark, designation, product configuration, trade dress … that are likely to cause confusion, mistake or deception … with Toyo’s name, marks, designations or product configurations.