Comparison Yanmar lawsuit.

[Scotty Dive]

Is fredericks targeted too?

 

[Gale Hawkins]

There has to be something more sinister going here to be a trade mark violation. These dealers of used and rebuilt Yanmar's must be doing something else we don't really have access too yet. Like the evidence. They must sell units that clearly not a Yanmar as a Yanmar. My bet is that these business have taken a bunch of Chinese parts and put them together to create a tractor and then slapped on the hood with a Yanmar logo on it and sell it as a rebuilt Yanmar. This would be a trade mark violation. There could have even imported back engineered Yanmar knockoffs produced in places like Vietnam and China and brought to the USA as Yanmar's and sold on their good name. If what makes a tractor a tractor is not Yanmar then they have a case. Of course that would be the law suite, just how much can be replaced with non OEM parts before it's not a Yanmar anymore?

HS

HS I agree there is more than currently meets the eye and must be some strong evidence to support the charges or the cases will be tossed. There was a case in recent years where a knock off of some Ford tractor model was being shipped into the US from China but I do not know how that turned out.

There are stories of many products being farmed out to China to be produced but the factories just keep producing the products after all the tooling costs have been paid by the legit owner of the products and they flood the market with the same produce. Sometimes they change the name and color of the paint but not always perhaps. They seem to see everything is in public domain.

 

[Rainbody]

Funny story,
I was in Korea and some friends would talk about China. From 9-5 they made TVs with brand name X. Workers would go home and the next shift would run the assembly line for brand name Y using all the sub components rejected by brand name X.
You can imagine, not all Y made products were labeled Y.
Wouldn't shock me if there's a little assembly line turning out whole tractors or parts.

 

[rhett]

Well, you can view a Filing:
"Case 4:12-cv-00509-Y Document 1 Filed 07/23/12 Page 1 of 107"
Yanmar v. Big Red's Equipment
8.12mb pdf file

http://www.ndtexblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Yanmar.pdf

to mad to comment more

 

[284 International]

...There was a case in recent years where a knock off of some Ford tractor model was being shipped into the US from China...

Do you by any chance know any more about this? Was this a recent model of tractor, or something much older, like an N series?


This case is not about knockoffs. Yanmar is not alleging there is any importation of fake tractors mismarked Yanmar. They are claiming their own products are being imported without their approval, and have different operating features and lack safety features, thus damaging their trademark.

 

[Scooby074]

Well, you can view a Filing:
"Case 4:12-cv-00509-Y Document 1 Filed 07/23/12 Page 1 of 107"
Yanmar v. Big Red's Equipment
8.12mb pdf file

http://www.ndtexblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Yanmar.pdf

to mad to comment more

Looks like their argument is spelled out pretty clear there.

Yanmar has been sued as a result of injuries from grays.

Yanmar is losing out on parts sales for "legal" machines

Big Red applied "new style" graphics over top of the existing graphics

Ages of the tractors weren't published

Grays dont meet applicable safety standards..

THey were warned to cease selling the grays, and kept selling them

There's a bunch more there, but thats the gist i got in a very quick read.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Do you by any chance know any more about this? Was this a recent model of tractor, or something much older, like an N series?


This case is not about knockoffs. Yanmar is not alleging there is any importation of fake tractors mismarked Yanmar. They are claiming their own products are being imported without their approval, and have different operating features and lack safety features, thus damaging their trademark.

The photo in my mind is more like perhaps a 4600 series. It was nearly a carbon copy right down to the sheet metal. They have done the same with some models of cars per an article from a couple years ago.

I to expect this Yanmar suit is more involved than the few details. Having the selling dealers buy back the equipment is a non starter for sure.

 

[NHmitch]

This is another example, and another person they are going after with an interesting case summary:
Georgia IP Litigation: Yanmar Files Trademark Infringement Action Over "Grey Market" Tractors

 

[NHmitch]

Its funny how Yanmar says in their lawsuit that: "Yanmar alleges that YCL manufactures tractors specifically for distribution in Japan ("Japanese Local Market YANMAR® tractors") that are used primarily in flat, muddy rice paddies and are typically equipped with only a small rotary tiller. Yanmar claims that the YANMAR® tractors sold in the United States are materially different, are intended for use in agriculture and construction on a variety of terrains, and include front end loaders, backhoes, and large rotary mowers."

My Bolens Tractor came off the exact same assembly line as the Iseki tractors that they intended for use in Japan, and they sold them in the US around the same time that your tractors were manufactured. In fact, I think that if you look at just about any big brand of tractor, you will see that they have an identical model that is for sale in very different agricultural markets around the world, and rice is not all that they farm in Japan..

 

[Neat 1500]

if they are going after Hoye that might explain their site being down at the moment?