Melville, NY—Canon USA and its parent company, Canon Inc., successfully reached an agreement with one of China’s leading logistics and fulfillment companies. The dispute involved the warehousing and shipping of counterfeit camera batteries into the U.S. for China-based sellers.
Moreover, as part of the settlement, the fulfillment/shipping company agreed to cease distribution of infringing products to consumers in the United States.
Canon aggressively pursues counterfeiters in the United States as well as globally. It does so to protect its customers from potentially unsafe products that unlawfully use the Canon name. It does so to protect the value, reputation as well as loyalty that the Canon brand has acquired over decades.
Canon Investigation into Counterfeit Camera Batteries
Furthermore, over the last two years, Canon’s investigation into counterfeiting uncovered a new shipping method that China-based sellers use to bring infringing goods into the United States.
Instead of shipping the goods directly to consumers in the U.S., China-based sellers send their goods in bulk to large fulfillment warehouses located in the United States. These warehouses then ship the infringing goods to American consumers. 
This new method enables China-based merchants to indirectly ship their counterfeit goods swiftly to American consumers. It also makes it harder for branded manufacturers to track and prevent the flow of counterfeit goods.
“After we discovered that China-based infringers were using this new shipment method to bring counterfeit Canon batteries into the United States, we started working on a creative strategy to remove these counterfeit products from the market,” said Seymour Liebman, executive vice president, chief administrative officer & general counsel of Canon USA, Inc. “We were able to find an innovative solution by proceeding directly against the fulfillment/warehouser to halt the distribution of these fake goods in the United States.
“Moreover, we believe we are the first intellectual property owner to successfully stop this new method of importation and distribution. We hope other companies will follow our lead and utilize this novel approach to stopping counterfeiters.”
What’s more, the Canon companies are represented by Mark Schonfeld. Schonfeld is a partner in the Boston office of Burns & Levinson LLP, who negotiated the settlement with the U.S.-based fulfillment company.
For more information about Canon’s anti-counterfeiting measures, visit https://global.canon/en/intellectual-property/anti-counterfeit/.
