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King Blade Penlight Maker Sues to Stop Rival's Sales Over Design
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
Ruifan Japan, the maker of the King Blade brand of pen lights often used in live concerts in Japan, filed a lawsuit on March 16 against the company Happyjoint, claiming that the latter's Colorful Fantastic brand of pen lights infringed on Ruifan's King Blade design rights. Ruifan is also seeking a temporary injunction via the Tokyo District Court on Happyjoint's sales of the product.
Happyjoint commented that it is considering its legal options.
In the lawsuit, Ruifan claimed that its King Blade pen lights were brighter and lasted longer, with a button on the device's underside to change the light color. Ruifan then stated that Happyjoint's products were not as bright and did not last as long. Ruifan noted that there is a danger that Happyjoint's products could be confused for Ruifan's, and negatively impact the reputation of the King Blade brand.
Ruifan cited as an example an instance of a customer sending the company a letter, complaining that a King Blade product the customer had purchased did not light up. The photograph included in the complaint showed a product that appeared to be a King Blade product, but was supposedly an imitation.
Ruifan noted that it had asked sites offering the alleged imitation items to delist the products. The company also claimed to have sent a notification to the manufacturer of the alleged imitation product, and supposedly received a reply saying that the products were not imitations. Ruifan then decided to resort to legal action.
The King's Blade brand has sold almost 2.43 million products since 2012, and was the top seller in Amazon Japan's "toys" category in 2016.
The first oral proceedings are scheduled for April 27.
Source: Sankei News via Hachima Kikō
