Neugart successfully defends itself against counterfeit products and trademark violations

The Neugart brand message is clear. “Only Neugart has ‘The Original’”, said Thomas Herr, Managing Partner of Neugart GmbH. He went on to explain that this also serves as a commitment to protect Neugart customers against counterfeit products. This commitment again proved successful at the Hannover Messe, the world’s largest industrial exhibition.

At the exhibition, a Chinese provider of gearboxes was discovered offering its products under Neugart trademark names. The likelihood of confusion – in addition to the identical design and the same nomenclature – was extremely high. “We notified the legal department of the Deutsche Messe and they took action immediately,” said Herr. All documentation containing trademark violations was swiftly removed from the provider’s booth.

Just a short time ago in 2013, a Chinese company at the Hannover Messe offered planetary gearboxes with product names trademarked by Neugart. To defend its brand rights, Neugart successfully obtained an injunction from the regional court in Braunschweig (Landgericht Braunschweig), forbidding the Chinese company from using these trademarked names. It has therefore taken Neugart less than 24 hours after becoming aware of the brand violation to forbid the Chinese provider from using these names while it was still on trade fair grounds.

In 2015 Neugart succeeded in preventing the Chinese company from using the trademarks at all by notifying the management of the trade fair before it began. Supported by Chinese trademark lawyers, Neugart even managed to forbid the Chinese company from continuing to use the trademark names in China. The names are also Neugart registered trademarks in China.

For good reason Neugart has been operating successfully in China since 2004. “We are now advancing with great strides in China,” explained Managing Partner Bernd Neugart. “In 2016, we grew by a solid 28% on the Chinese market.” Just recently, a new factory started operations in March, which currently employs about seventy people Neugart has invested €3.5 million there.