Editor's note: The source of a blog about the raid by federal marshals was misidentified in an earlier version of this story.
Federal marshals raided the booths of two Chinese companies at the annual Specialty Equipment Market Association convention in Las Vegas on Wednesday, seizing parts, displays and communications equipment after allegations of copyright infringement.
Additionally, the booths of six other Chinese aftermarket parts manufacturers were shut down later Wednesday at the nearby Automotive Aftermarket Products Expo, as part of the same investigation, authorities said.
The raids took place after a manufacturer of aftermarket Jeep parts, OMIX-ADA, of Suwanee, Ga., filed an emergency suit Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Nevada claiming that the Chinese companies were displaying and selling knock-offs of several of its patented aftermarket parts. Those parts included replacement hood latches, light mount assemblies and front grilles for the Jeep Wrangler. In its suit, OMIX-ADA claimed that the companies regularly sold knock-offs of its patented parts through online retailers such as eBay and Amazon.
District Judge Gloria Navarro issued a preliminary injunction and seizure order Tuesday. In court documents, the companies were identified as Changzhou Jiulong Auto Lamps Factory, Guangzhou Vcan Electronic Technology Co., Maxgrand Ltd., Sanmak Lighting Co., Shenzen Unisun Technology Co., and Unity 4wd Accessories Co. Navarro scheduled a preliminary hearing in her courtroom on the matter for Nov. 10.
OMIX bills itself as the “world’s largest independent manufacturer and wholesaler of Jeep parts and accessories.”
Henk Van Dongen, OMIX-ADA’s director of marketing, told Quadratec, a reseller of Omix products, that OMIX-ADA “talked with SEMA about how do we go through the steps because we don’t want to upset the industry at an event like this,” according to a Quadratec blog about the raid.
SEMA response
Peter MacGillivray, vice president of events for SEMA, said this morning that the issue of intellectual property protection was “very, very important to us. In this marketplace, at the SEMA show, we want to give our customers confidence that they can do business here without IP issues.”
