Blueair Protects Its Air Purifier from Patent Infringement Mar 21, 2005

Printable format  Email this Article  Search

Blueair, Inc. of Chicago, IL, U.S. successfully protected its patent from infringement by a Chinese manufacturer who was already shipping and selling copies of the Blueair Model 501 in-room air purifier in the U.S. and world markets.

According to Blueair, the company was recently awarded a restraining order by a Federal Court in Chicago, against Shanghai Number from further manufacture, marketing, advertising, shipping, distributing, and sale of air purifier knock-off to the U. S. market.

Under the restraining order, the Chinese firm was ordered by the court to destroy all molds, tooling, and any knock off copies of the air purifier sold or in the process of being sold in the U.S. market.

Blueair's sworn lawsuit in the Federal Court asserts that its trade dress rights for its room air purifier are violated by the very similar-appearing knock-off. Although the knock-off looked like the Blueair air purifier, it generated very little airflow since the Chinese company was not able to copy the technology, the company said.

As part of the judgment, Shanghai Number also agreed to cease any further production of the Blueair design.

Back to Daily News