Conti wins design complaint against wholesaler Heuver

Hanover, Germany – Continental Corp. has reached an out-of-court settlement with Dutch automotive wholesaler Heuver over the sale of an Aeolus-branded tire which it claims infringes a Conti EU design patent.

In a 15 July statement, the German tire maker said that the settlement was reached following a ruling by Hamburg Regional Court, in December last year, which confirmed the infringement.

Continental had filed a complaint in 2016 concerning Aeolus truck tires – Aeolus ATR 33 and Neo Allroads T+ – advertised and sold in the EU by tire wholesaler Heuver.

According to Conti, the tires’ profile “showed design elements similar to those developed by Continental for its… HTR 2 tires”.

The German tire maker said it had protected the design according to EU law.

The court ruling covered a prohibition of sales of the affected Aeolus tires, a claim for damages and a claim for the recall of tires already sold by Heuver.

The out-of-court settlement, said Conti, includes the claims listed by Continental in the ruling.

“Continental… takes any unauthorised use of our patents, brands or other intellectual property rights or infringements of these extremely seriously, and will continue to enforce its rights by legal means in future,” said Constantin Batsch, head of truck tire replacement market in EMEA.