The former owners of the insolvent Barker Jørgensen have been found guilty of infringement of BarkerBille’s rights.
In February of 2015, Moldow A/S acquired all rights and the name Barker Jørgensen from the estate in bankruptcy after Barker Jørgensens Maskinfabrik A/S, and later they established BarkerBille A/S. Ever since the acquisition, the former owners of Barker Jørgensen, Jet Engineering Aps, have failed to comply with the terms of the purchase agreement. Therefore, Moldow filed a lawsuit against them earlier this year.
In June, the Court ruled in favor of BarkerBille and Moldow. This ruling will hopefully end the confusion as to who sells and owns the rights to the Barker name and original products.
Background
Moldow bought the majority of the activities of Barker Jørgensen after the company went bankrupt on January 30, 2015. With the purchase, all rights to the Barker fans and names were acquired by and assigned to Moldow. The Barker Jørgensen owned Chinese subsidiary, Barker Jorgensen Industrial Fans (Ningbo) Co., Ltd., was not acquired by Moldow but sold to the former owners. As part of the agreement, they were granted permission to terminate ongoing projects in China using the Barker Jørgensen name for up to six months from the date of the acquisition. They were not allowed to start new projects nor use the Barker name to sell new products in those six months or any time thereafter.
Shortly after the creation of BarkerBille, the Chinese based sales and production subsidiary BarkerBille Fans Manufacturing (Ningbo) Co., Ltd. was established.
Unfortunately, the former owners of Barker Jørgensen continued to manufacture fans that were copies of the Barker fans in China under the name Barker Jet, thereby using the Barker name to sell their products and violating Moldow’s rights. After having tried to solve the issue through negotiations without success, Moldow filed a lawsuit against Jet Engineering ApS, the owners of the Chinese company Ningbo Barker Jet Industrial Fans Co., Ltd.
Ruling in favor of BarkerBille
On June 10, 2016, the Danish Court in Lyngby passed sentence and ruled in favor of BarkerBille and Moldow. The Court found that the name of the Chinese company, Ningbo Barker Jet Industrial Fans Co., Ltd., had to be changed so that neither “Barker” nor “Jørgensen” were part of it, which has now finally happened.
High quality fans – also in China
The original Barker fans and products are sold exclusively by BarkerBille and by BarkerBille’s Chinese subsidiary BarkerBille Fans Manufacturing (Ningbo) Co., Ltd. Both companies manufacture and supply high quality fans, just like Moldow.
In China, the high quality of the fans is ensured by using the same new 3D technology and modern dimensioning software as in Denmark, and by manufacturing the rotating parts in Denmark. At the same time, the cooperation with Moldow means that BarkerBille has the support of a solid, competent and financially strong company.
If you wish to see either parts of the purchase agreement or the official sentence, please contact BarkerBille or Moldow:
Flemming Bille, fb@barkerbille.com, +45 20 95 68 11
K. Preben Hansen, kph@moldow.com, +45 20 20 26 44