Kettle company wins patent case in China

CHINA – A Beijing court has ordered two Chinese kettle manufacturers to pay US$1.3m in damages to a UK company for patent infringement. Strix, a UK manufacturer of electric kettle controls, won its patent infringement suit against Zhejiang Jiatai Electrical Appliance Manufacture and Leqing FaDa Electrical Appliance. The award is considered unprecedented for IP cases in China involving small domestic appliances. Apart from the damages, the court also imposed an injunction against the sale of all infringing products. Strix brought the case in 2008. The company, founded on the Isle of Man in 1982, is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of safety control systems for small domestic appliances.