ContiTech in further success against Chinese belt counterfeiter

ERJ staff report (DS)

Hanover -- ContiTech has achieved a further victory in the fight against product forgeries: The company managed to prove that a large Chinese manufacturer had produced fake ContiTech drive belts. The company Taizhou Fuju Rubber Belt Manufacture Co., Ltd. has been fined.

ContiTech got the decisive tip from a customer. When local authorities searched the Fuju Rubber company headquarters south of Shanghai, they found large numbers of fake multiple V-ribbed belts as well as packaging with ContiTech labeling. In addition, further pirated drive belts with the designation of a leading Japanese carmaker were also confiscated. “In the future, we will work more closely with our customers in the fight against product piracy,” said Helmut Engel, head of the Automotive Aftermarket sector in the ContiTech Power Transmission Group. “The key to this success was also our speedy response. It was possible to confiscate the products just a few days after the suspicion was voiced.”

“This is a major step in the prosecution of illicit reproduction cases, since it was the first time that we were able to determine the manufacturer directly. Often, only the dealers and importers are held to account, and the producers of the copies remain unknown,” said Engel.

In 2007, ContiTech already won two cases of product piracy: roughly 20,000 fake drive belts and packaging with ContiTech labeling were seized by customs authorities in Malta and then destroyed upon release by the courts. In Taiwan a trader and a general importer were ordered to pay damages. The court had found them guilty of dealing in about 4,500 phony V-ribbed belts and approximately 13,000 faked boxes - still empty - done up in the ContiTech design.

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Press release from ContiTech