TORONTO and LOS ANGELES, May 20, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — Spin Master Ltd., Canada’s largest children’s toy and entertainment company and the world leader in flying toys, announced today that it has issued civil High Court proceedings against Character Options Ltd and Brix n’ Clix (the “Defendants”) in the High Court of Justice, London. The lawsuit seeks an injunction to prevent the Defendants from infringing several of Spin Master’s intellectual property rights by marketing and selling the “Sky Dancers Starfly” toy, which is alleged to infringe Spin Master’s rights protecting the best-selling Flutterbye® Flying Fairy, a flying doll that is controllable in the air with the palm of your hand. The lawsuit alleges that the Starfly toy and its packaging has the same overall appearance as and has been copied from the best-selling Flutterbye® Flying Fairy and its packaging. The lawsuit also seeks delivery up or destruction of all of the Defendants’ stocks of the look-a-like Starfly toy and that the Defendants account for all of their profits made from the Starfly toy or pay damages, including additional statutory damages for the flagrancy of the infringement, in addition to Spin Master’s legal costs.
In addition to the law suit filed in the United Kingdom against Character Options and Brix n Clix, Spin Master has initiated a lawsuit against Zhongshan Techboy Electronic Technology Co., Ltd. and its related factory, Da’ao Chuangyou Electronics Factory. These two targets were found manufacturing the “Starfly”. The copyright and utility model patent infringement claims were filed on April 9, 2014 before Zhongshan Intermediate People’s Court, and an immediate evidence and assets preservation was applied on May 12, 2014.
Flutterbye® Flying Fairy has become a global hit and has garnered numerous awards and accolades including two Toy of the Year nominations from the Toy Industry Association. Given the success of the Flutterbye® line of fairy toys, Spin Master has already had to sue the developers and distributors of the Starfly toy, Brix n Clix, Rehco LLC and CYI Inc., in the US courts and deal with counterfeiting problems around the world. In recent weeks, Spin Master filed lawsuits in China to stop two counterfeiters, and it remains committed to protecting its rights, as evidenced by its most recent filing against the Starfly factory.
“Spin Master has determined who is involved in the manufacture and distribution of the infringing Starfly product and we have already sued Brix n Clix and its partner Recho in the United States,” said Christopher Harrs, General Counsel of Spin Master. “Spin Master has now sued the Chinese manufacturer of Starfly and we have taken action in Europe against Brix n’ Clix and its UK distributor, Character Options Ltd. I think we have shown that Spin Master will vigorously pursue companies who misappropriate our intellectual property for their own profit and we look forward to actively protecting our rights throughout Europe and the rest of the world, especially as more of our IP protection continues to issue.”
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