Michelin Files Case Against Atturo Tire Corporation for Patent Infringement

Michelin’s subsidiary in North America, Michelin North America, Inc. filed a suit against Atturo Tire Corporation and Svizz-One Corporation Ltd. on May 13 in the US District Court for the District of South Carolina in Greenville, South Caroline. In the lawsuit, the French tire manufacturer claims that Atturo and Svizz-One had violated a patent (US patent D483,322) that protects Michelin’s design of the Michelin Latitude tire tread.

Atturo Tire Corporation generally manufactures tires for the light truck segment comprising SUVs, crossovers and pickup trucks. Allegedly, two of Atturo’s tires, Atturo AZ600 and the Thunderer Ranger 007 – are designed along similar lines. Svizz-One is one of the defendants in the suit as it is the company that manufactures these tires for Atturo in Thailand for sale in the USS retail market. The tires are manufactured at the Deestone factory.

Speaking about the lawsuit, Michelin vice president of research and development Paul Grosskopf said that the lawsuit highlights Michelin’s focus on using legal strategy to safeguard the intellectual property that is created with an annual R& D spend of USD 700 million and its team of 6,000 employees dealing with research and development