Continental wins design complaint against Heuver Bandengroothandel B.V.

Hanover, July 15, 2019. In its ruling of December 2018, the Hamburg Regional Court confirmed that certain Aeolus-branded tires infringe an EU design patent of Continental. Continental had filed a complaint in 2016 concerning Aeolus truck tires (Aeolus ATR 33 and Neo Allroads T+) advertised and sold in the EU by tire wholesaler Heuver because their profile showed design elements similar to those developed by Continental for its successful HTR 2 tires and which it had protected according to EU law (registered Community design). Among other issues, the ruling covered a prohibition of sales of the affected Aeolus tires, a claim for damages and a claim for the recall of tires already sold by Heuver. After the ruling, Heuver and Continental reached an out-of-court settlement that also includes the claims listed by Continental in the ruling.

Constantin Batsch, who is responsible at Continental for the truck tire replacement market in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, expressed his satisfaction with the judgement. “We continually invest significantly in research and development to be able to offer our customers innovative and high-performance products,” said Batsch. “Continental accordingly takes any unauthorized use of our patents, brands or other intellectual property rights or infringements of these extremely seriously, and will continue to enforce its rights by legal means in future.”