HPMI members deny charges by Honda

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in Indonesia, in China the patent for the device has been
revoked.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)