Fire up the engines: the successful case of MOTOVARIO

The “Motovario-Case” is one of our best examples of how an efficient and consistent anticounterfeiting campaign can be successful.

Motovario is a company involved in the production of sales of worm gear reducers, NMRV and MOTOVARIO trademarks. Their products, already synonymous with quality and reliability since its foundation in 1965, are quite popular in Asia and in China especially.

As we all know, since imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, with the increase of such success, the number of counterfeited products increased accordingly. 

Being always caring about the quality, Motovario is also sensitive when it comes to counterfeits, aiming to keep “clean” the name and the story of their products and to not allow the consumers to be misled about the source of their worm gear reducers.

Over the years, Motovario has successfully carried out take down campaigns on the web and exhibition fairs against the counterfeiters. 

But let’s go to straight to the main success.

In 2020, after discovering a company manufacturing and selling of counterfeited products bearing the MOTOVARIO trademark, Motovario International Trading (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. [摩铎利国际贸易（上海）有限公司]  sued  that company and its sole shareholder in front of the Dongguan City Second Intermediary People’s Court.

The company was the registrant of the infringing domain names and websites www.motovario-gear.com, www.motovario-china.diytrade.com selling products infringing Motovario’s trademark and making acts of unfair competition.

Counterfeit Motovario Motor-Gearbox

Motovario appointed HFG to initiate a civil litigation for trademark infringement and unfair competition. Motovario requested to the Court:

1. An order that the defendant shall cease trademark infringement against MOTOVARIO trademarks.

2. An order that the defendant shall assume damage for trademark infringement for RMB 500,000.

3. An order that the defendant shall make an apology statement on national newspapers.

Simultaneously, Motovario filed property preservation with the court, to freeze the defendant’s bank account, and to make the enforcement procedure quicker in case of success. Additionally, Motovario also filed notarized evidence of the infringing conducted in their detriment.

In order to increase the chances of having recognized a high amount of damage compensation, during the litigation Motovario point out the popularity of MOTOVARIO’s brand in continental China through the submission of several evidence. 

Despite the efforts of the defendant to prove they get the reducer machine legally, on December 2021, the Judge issued the decision, confirming that the defendants had sold fake MOTOVARIO products through the two fake MOTOVARIO website, which constituted trademark infringement, and the Court supported most of our claims. 

According to the Court’s word, both companies had to immediately stop selling counterfeit products, shut down their website and pay compensation to Motovario for the economic loss.

This decision represents a success in terms of recognition of the infringement of the defendants in detriment of Motovario and shows how the Courts are becoming more and more sensitive to the intellectual property rights in China.

“We have achieved an excellent and fair result” says Motovario General Manager in China , Mr. Rosario Pizzimenti.