The Scottish firm says “two significant legal battles” to protect its designs have been won.
An Edinburgh court has ruled in Ooni’s favor over two legal battles against a Chinese “copycat” manufacturer of pizza ovens.
Since 2012, Ooni has been associated with premium outdoor pizza ovens, and considering its market position, the company has fought hard to protect its intellectual property.
According to a press release, Scotland’s courts have ended a two-year lawsuit in which Ooni claimed that Chinese manufacturer Foshan Hanshi and its client, Flamo Pizza Ovens, had infringed upon Ooni’s intellectual property rights.
This lawsuit has resulted in Foshan Hanshi and Flamo being ordered to stop infringing upon Ooni’s IP — in other words, to stop the alleged copying of pizza oven designs — and paying £100,000 ($126,000) in damages and legal fees.
Furthermore, the defendants have been ordered to deliver any remaining products “to allow Ooni to have them destroyed.”
The second action relates to the IP itself. The UK Intellectual Property Office has deemed two of Foshan Hanshi’s UK-registered designs for pizza ovens to be “invalid.”
According to Ooni, the designs were “too close to the unique features of Ooni’s own Koda 12 and Koda 16 ovens, which are also protected by earlier-filed registered UK designs.”
Christie McCluskey, General Counsel, at Ooni, commented: “Innovation has always been at the heart of Ooni’s success and we work tirelessly to defend the integrity of our brand and products. These legal actions are aligned with our long-term strategy to grow the Ooni business and team and fire up our culture of innovation.”
