P&G won the federal court case in the company’s home town of Cincinnati, taking to task Onuge Personal Care, based in Guangzhou, southern China, because it manufactured similar products to its Whitestrips, then exported them for distribution in the U.S.
Last week the Federal District Court agreed on a permanent injunction that prevents Onuge from manufacturing, selling or distributing any product that infringes any part of the patents protecting the Whitestrips brand name, official court documents show.
Infringements against Whitestrips patents
Onuge, a private label manufacturer and distributor, together with importer MS International Enterprises were both named in the lawsuits for infringements against Crest Whitestrips and its packaging/branding.
P&G originally filed the complaint against Onuge and MS International back in February of this year, naming teeth-whitening products with the brand names Dr. Brody’s One Smile, Bright White and Healthy White as the offending brands.
The case against MS International was dropped earlier in the year, when it agreed to withdraw all the offending products from its distribution channels.
Court decision is final
In an earlier hearing back in July, Onuge had already agreed to the consent judge about the case brought against it and the pending court decision could not be appealed.
In an interview with the Cincinnati Business Courier, P&G’s chief legal officer, Deborah Jamoras, said that the case underlined the company’s unwavering commitment to protecting its intellectual property worldwide.
“We will continue to enforce our (intellectual property) rights to ensure that our trusted Crest brand, the innovations behind it, and, ultimately, consumers, are fairly protected from infringers, big and small,” Jamoras said in an interview with the newspaper.