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Moore Large responds to police raid on Xeccon stand at Eurobike in Knog disputeKnog Blinder front

Moore Large responds to police raid on Xeccon stand at Eurobike in Knog dispute

UK distributor says it's up to Chinese bike light firm to ensure it complies with intellectual property laws...
by Simon_MacMichael
Thu, Sep 08, 2016 19:53
6

Moore Large, which earlier this year secured the exclusive distribution rights in the UK for Xeccon, says it is up to the Chinese bike light manufacturer to ensure its products comply with intellectual property (IP) laws.

Derby-based Moore Large was responding to last week’s raid by German customs police on the Xeccon stand at Eurobike which followed allegations by Australia-based Knog that Xeccon’s Milan range of lights infringes the patents of its own Blinder range.

> Police raid Xeccon stand at Eurobike in Knog patent dispute

Nigel Moore, managing director of Moore Large, which had distributed Knog lights until April this year, said in a statement that the company "respects intellectual property rights and does not condone infringement in any form," reports BikeBiz.

He went on: "Our contractual agreement with Xeccon confirms it is their responsibility to ensure such infringement does not take place, and that the lights in dispute were not to be shipped until the supplier had an unambiguous IP right to sell the product.

"These applications by Xeccon have been ongoing and not yet resolved, therefore Xeccon has not yet shipped, and Moore Large not yet received, nor sold, the Milan model lights that are in question."

Last Thursday, Knog CEO Hugo Davidson who was with customs officers when they seized Xeccon goods at the Zeppelin hall of the trade fair in Friedrichshafen, told Cycling Industry News: “We have already issued a number of cease and desist warnings in order to protect our IP.

“This business approached our distributors offering to undercut our goods on several occasions, even following our contact.

“We have been aware that they are further chasing clients since and were set to exhibit at Eurobike.

“With that knowledge they have once been asked to remove all content infringing our patents, but have refused to do so. German customs have therefore come in to seize the goods this morning.”

It was reported at the time that as well as the action taken against Xeccon, Moore Large would also be receiving a cease and desist letter issued on behalf of Knog.

Moore Large
Xeccon
Knog
intellectual property
Simon MacMichael

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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6 comments

Avatar
StraelGuy | 8 years ago
4 likes

Exactly Myles, Moore Large come across as a right bunch of Del boys from this whole affair.

Avatar
brooksby replied to StraelGuy | 8 years ago
1 like

guyrwood wrote:

Exactly Myles, Moore Large come across as a right bunch of Del boys from this whole affair.

Denying all knowledge of wrongdoing, also known as the "it fell off the back of a lorry " defence.

Avatar
Yorky-M | 8 years ago
4 likes

rubbish response.

 Moore Large dumped Knog to sell  Xeccon knockoffs. 

 

Avatar
Ush replied to Yorky-M | 8 years ago
1 like

mylesrants wrote:

rubbish response.

 Moore Large dumped Knog to sell  Xeccon knockoffs. 

 

All depends.  If Knog's "intellectual property" is genuine innovation or just using crap laws which retard progress in order to preserve a monopoly for whoever filled out the paperwork for "an LED source masked by an annular diffuser".

 

If Knog have genuinely advanced lighting, then yeah, fair dues, but I suspected this is just monopolist racketeering stopping us from getting a good price on lights.

Avatar
brooksby replied to Ush | 8 years ago
1 like

Ush wrote:

All depends.  If Knog's "intellectual property" is genuine innovation or just using crap laws which retard progress in order to preserve a monopoly for whoever filled out the paperwork for "an LED source masked by an annular diffuser".

If Knog have genuinely advanced lighting, then yeah, fair dues, but I suspected this is just monopolist racketeering stopping us from getting a good price on lights.

Isn't that pretty much all patent law? Ultimately it doesn't matter: the law is on Knog's side, and some but not all Chinese corporations have a history of playing fast and loose with patent law protection. Although they're not doing it for high minded "undermine the monopoly " reasons.

Avatar
Ush replied to brooksby | 8 years ago
0 likes

brooksby wrote:

Isn't that pretty much all patent law?

Well, I'm not familiar enough with all patent law, but it seems reasonable to me that someone coming up with a genuinely novel technology in which they invested time and money for R&D should be protected for a limited period of time.   The devil is in the details of "novel" and "period of time".

brooksby wrote:

Ultimately it doesn't matter: the law is on Knog's side, and some but not all Chinese corporations have a history of playing fast and loose with patent law protection. Although they're not doing it for high minded "undermine the monopoly " reasons.

 

1) laws can be changed if they're not good; 2) in terms of the effect "provide new stuff cheaper" it doesn't matter whether a corporations motives are high-minded or simply money-grubbing. 

 

All that said, I haven't seen a Knog product I would want to buy whether in original or knock-off except for their bell:  _that_ looks excellent.

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