Manchester trader Gen-X IT has been ordered to pay Cisco has been awarded a “seven-figure” sum by the High Court.
Cisco said that two Gen-X IT directors accepted a court ruling in favour of the vendor and agreed to pay a “significant” settlement.
Alan Gould and Kelley Stewart accepted that they had infringed Cisco trademarks by dealing in counterfeit products and parallel-imported products – sometimes referred to as the grey market.
Neil Sheridan, Cisco director of brand protection, said: “This action, together with other successes we have had with the City of London Police, demonstrate the strength of Cisco’s enforcement of its intellectual property rights.
“We have obtained significant remedies from Alan Gould and Kelley Stewart, which show that the directors and senior management of companies that choose to infringe Cisco’s rights can and will be the target of Cisco’s enforcement action.
“Last year’s UK Supreme Court decision that trading in grey products, as well as counterfeit products, can result in criminal prosecution is further proof that trading outside Cisco’s authorised distribution network will have consequences.”
Cisco and Gen-X IT have been at dagger points for more than ten years. Gen-X IT was caught trading counterfeit Cisco products in 2005.
This latest episode saw Gen-X IT go into administration, initially expecting a financial penalty of nearly $2 million. Gen-X later said it feared the settlement would “greatly exceed” this amount.
An administrator’s report posted on Companies House in January stated that Cisco was seeking £35.1 million from Gen-X, but at this time the final amount had not been decided.
