In the United States, Philips has recently filed a design infringement lawsuit against Ideavillage Products Corp. Philips has been manufacturing and selling men's razor and nostril trimmer since the 1940s, with annual revenues of approximately $365 million. In addition, Philips holds about 60,000 patents and 48,000 design rights worldwide, and has applied for 300 design and 500 utility patents in the United States that are all related to men's beauty products.
▲Philips
(Left) and Ideavillage Products Corp. (Right)
OneBlade
Shaver
The Philips OneBlade is a men's electric
shaver launched in 2016 with a design reminiscent of a manual razor. At the
time, rotary razors with a circular head and inner cutter, or straight foil
razors with an inner blade vibrating under a foil layer were commonly found. These
types of razors were also quite large and heavy. Philips has applied for a
razor and design patent since 2014 to protect its differentiated design.
 |
| ▲ wipsglobal.com OneBlade patent search results |
Who
is the being accused?
Ideavillage Products Corp., founded in
1999, is an American retail company that sells a variety of household and home electronic
appliances. Among them, there is an issue between Philips’ OneBlade and a men’s
beauty product from the brand, Micro Touch. After the release of Micro Touch
Solo, the shaver, in November 2017, the second generation version of it is on
sale since 2020.
▲ OneBlade
from Philips (Left) and Micro Touch Solo from Ideavillage (Right)
Philips argues that the defendant has
infringed Philips’ design and has been taking advantage of it by selling
similar products at a lower price than Philip’s produce of OneBlade.
▲ Product
comparison between Philips and Ideavillage (Derived from litigation materials)
Other
products have been infringed as well?
The plaintiff stated that the defendant
infringed not only the razor, but also the design of the trimmer, which
can trim nostrils, ear hair, eyebrows, etc. Defendant was selling a nostril remover
called Micro Touch Max Trimmer before the release of the Philips nostril
remover. Up until this point, there was no problem between Ideavillage Products
Corp and Philips. However, problems arose after the release of the Micro Touch
Max Titanium Trimmer, an upgraded version of the Micro Touch Trimmer. This is
because Philips was also applying for a design regarding the nostril remover.
 |
| ▲ wipsglobal.com Nostril trimmer patent search results |
Plaintiff argues that defendant's Micro
Touch Max Titanium Trimmer infringed design rights related to the Philips Nose
Trimmer. As this is a lawsuit that has been recently filed, there is no data
available from the defendant. As design infringement is not a matter that can
be easily determined, we are all curious on how the process will proceed.
▲ Product
comparison between Philips and Ideavillage (Derived from litigation materials)
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