Toyo Wins Landmark Case

Toyo Tire and its US subsidiary,Toyo Tire Holdings of Americas Inc. won the case it filed against Singapore-based Fitinparts Pte in the United States District Court for the Central District of California. Toyo had accused Fitinparts Pte of trademark infringement and false advertising.

Toyo had filed a lawsuit claiming that Fitinparts used “ToyoGuard” as the brand name to sell a range of automotive-related products on its website. This infringed on several of Toyo’s trademarks and the logo was designed in a style that was similar to Toyo’s. Fitinparts’ foreign affiliates – JNBK Corp. Pte., Valtari Gold, Capital Ltd., its principal Leonid Kovalkov – and its U.S. affiliate Fitinparts-USA were named as defendants in the lawsuit

The court handed down its ruling in favor of Toyo on June 3 stating that the Toyo brand had considerable commercial strength and Fitinparts deliberately used the ToyoGuard designation with the intention of benefiting from the strong reputation Toyo enjoyed in the market.

Commenting on the judgment, Iori Suzuki, president of Toyo Tire Holdings of Americas Inc. said that he was pleased the court ruled in Toyo’s favor. He added that Toyo will continue to take trademark infringement and false advertising by other companies very seriously and will strive to protect its long-established and highly-reputable Toyo trademarks in addition to the product quality and goodwill that its brands represent.

The court granted a broad injunction against the defendants that prevents the use of ToyoGuard or any term similar to the Toyo marks in the future.