Akron, Ohio - Two manufacturers of tire building machines are embroiled in a patent infringement dispute over alleged theft of intellectual property on equipment primarily sold in China.

The battle pits VMI Group of The Netherlands, the largest company in the tire building machinery industry, against Safe-Run Machinery (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., a relative newcomer to the industry, having been formed in China in 2009.

The matter between the firms apparently started earlier this year when VMI Group accused Safe-Run of infringing on patents covering mechanical portions of a uni-stage passenger tire building machine. The Chinese company denied the allegations and said it has filed suit in Chinese court to affirm it did not infringe on VMI's intellectual properties.

Both firms exhibited at the International Tire Exhibition & Conference, held Sept. 13-15 in Akron. Their booths were side by side at the front of the expo floor, and officials from both discussed the patent infringement dispute.

Different perspectives

Harm Voortman, president and CEO of VMI Group, said the Safe-Run case came to its attention because VMI is the market leader in tire building machinery, so it knows all the customers.

"We have been in their plants and have seen what is going on," he said. "I think it is impossible for any company to do anything on tire building equipment that does not come to our attention."

And VMI is of the opinion Safe-Run violates a number of patents "spread all over the passenger tire building machine," Voortman said. "We discussed this with them and warned them that in our opinion they are violating our legal rights. They left us no choice but to take further steps. It is up to the judge to decide."

However, Armin Lutz Seidel, a consultant and head of international sales for Safe-Run said the Chinese firm would fight the allegations and maintained the facts will be on its side.

Safe-Run concentrates on uni-stage tire building machines along with curing presses, said Seidel, who joined at the beginning of 2016 as the Chinese company - located about an hour from Shanghai in Jiangsu Province—looks to spread its base outside of China.

"In China we have really a very stable customer base," Seidel said in an interview at ITEC. "All in all, we have sold more than 200 tire building machines in the last four years."

In the dispute with VMI, he said Safe-Run went on the offensive by filing suit because VMI was telling customers that the Chinese firm was infringing on its patents. "But they never proved it," Seidel said. "They didn't go to court and open suit against them. And now we have sued them."

Seidel said his company can't understand is how VMI would think Safe-Run could sell machines in the market using infringed patents.

"It’s simply impossible," he said. "So we will not have patent infringement. This is a really clear statement. We are collaborating with one of the best law firms in Shanghai and with German law firms. Our machines will not infringe patents. We are highly focused because we know no one would buy machines from whomever with such problems. No one in the world anymore."

Going forward

Neither company would speculate on what the next moves will be in the IP case.

Voortman acknowledged it's not easy to fight alleged IP violations in China, but that the legal system there has improved the last couple of years. "That gives us a better basis for filing cases like this," he said. "In general you can say it has made it a little bit easier to protect your rights. On the other hand, it is still a very complicated fight. We think it is worth picking up this fight."

He added that it's not something VMI likes to do, that it would much rather focus on its customers.

"We believe in developing technology, bringing the industry a step forward," Voortman said. "That is our main focus. And in order to be successful in that, we have to work very hard, very diligently. Work with the customers. Listen to the customers. Do the development and, if needed, product our rights. And we will do so. We are convinced that we have a very strong case."

Seidel said when it deals with potential customers that have heard these claims, the only way it can address it is by presenting Safe-Run's set of technical facts. "How you can fight against rumors is with facts," he said. "We are a young company. VMI has the better reputation, so people believe VMI mentally. But we will fight with facts. It's the only way for us. And we have good facts."