''This is a victory for inventors and toy companies the world over who work together to develop great toys," said Wow! Stuff.
Wow! Stuff has secured a double victory in the Court of Appeal and Intellectual Property Enterprise Court against Gift House International an discount retailer B&M Retail.
Both Gift House and B&M were found to have infringed Wow! Stuff’s patent rights and design rights in its Air Swimmers remote controlled flying toys by selling counterfeit products known as Mega Fliers in the UK.
“This is a victory for inventors and toy companies the world over who work together to develop great toys," said a Wow! Stuff spokeperson.
"The majority of the profits often go back into further R&D. As James Dyson has shown, you can beat the Goliaths and go on to invest and create more amazing products. We were able to do this with Real FX Racing, an NPD top seller. We are pleased to show that even infringers with very deep pockets can be brought to justice”.
Gift House had previously been found liable for selling counterfeit products in August 2014 following a trial at IPEC. It then launched appeal proceedings at the Court of Appeal only to withdraw its own appeal within weeks of the hearing in early 2016; but only after it was forced to make a substantial payment towards Wow! Stuff’s appeal costs.
Wow! Stuff’s claim for damages was settled by Gift House out of court. Gift House was also ordered to pay the costs of having its remaining Mega Fliers counterfeits destroyed at a landfill site by being run over by a JCB.
Following the Gift House defeat, B&M accepted it had also infringed Wow! Stuff’s IP rights in its Air Swimmers toys. It consented to judgment being entered against it in IPEC with damages and costs to be assessed.
B&M also consented to an injunction being made against it to prevent it from further infringing Wow! Stuff’s IP rights.
Both Gift House and B&M had continued to sell counterfeit Mega Fliers products even after receiving cease and desist letters setting out details of Wow! Stuff’s IP rights. This led Wow! Stuff with little option but to go to court.
