HPMI members deny charges by Honda

JAKARTA (JP): Chinese motorcycle distributors and importers denied on Thursday allegations that their products have been infringing the patent rights of Honda.

According to the newly established Indonesian Motorcycle Industry Association (HPMI), which groups mostly distributors and importers of non-Japanese motorbikes, the allegation was made merely as a ploy to ruin the image of their motorbikes.

The association's chairman Henry J. Gunawan said that Honda's move to advertise its allegation in the media was a maneuver to turn public opinion against Chinese motorcycles.

"Chinese motorcycles have been marketed in Indonesia for three years, why didn't they make a case then? Instead they are attacking us when our market is growing," he said at a media conference here after a ceremony marking his appointment as chairman of HPMI.

Honda claimed that several Chinese motorcycles have been using its patented decompression system, a system which makes engine ignition easier. The system was patented at the Indonesian Patent Office in 1995, and was valid and enforceable until 2005, the company asserted.

Henry said that seven of HPMI's 28 members, have received warnings to halt further imports and to remove the device from their existing stocks. The companies include Hokaido, Beijing, Qinggi, Sanex and Millennium, he said.

HPMI lawyer Didi Irawadi Syamsuddin of the Amir Syasuddin & Partners Law Office, said that even if the patent was enforceable in Indonesia, in China the patent for the device has been revoked.

He said that the device had been adopted by many motorcycles in China and since businessmen here imported the motorcycles in CBU form it was wrong to blame the importers.

"Furthermore, the device has been investigated by a technical team in China, which found many differences between it and Honda's decompression device," Didi said.

The association would formally deny Honda's allegations, and furthermore query the validity of Honda's patent and ask for a review, he said.

"We are questioning whether Honda has performed its obligations under the patent law, including producing the patented product locally," Didi said, adding that the association was ready to face Honda if ever the case came to court.

"Honda needs to be very careful, because our retaliation will be even more dangerous," Henry said. (tnt)