01.03.2021

JCB vs Manitou ruling

The Paris Court of Justice ‘Tribunal Judiciaire’ has ruled on the patent infringement case brought by JCB against Manitou regarding a telehandler overload system.

The court has invalidated in its entirety the French part of one of the two patents held by JCB and also invalidated most of the claims of the French part of the second patent held by JCB.

However, the court found that two claims of the French part of the second patent were infringed by three telehandler models built by Manitou, which discontinued their use in May 2017. Manitou is challenging that decision, noting that it has no impact on its business as old configuration has not been marketed since then.

The court went on to order Manitou to pay JCB €150,000 for the loss suffered, rejecting JCB’s claim of a loss of €190 million.

Manitou said that it will "continue to firmly defend itself against infringement allegations of three patents claimed by JCB".

For further information - see: JCB wins injunction against Manitou.

We will follow up with JCB and update if more information surfaces.