Mitsubishi Electric Settles IPR Lawsuit with German Hand Dryer Company

TOKYO, November 2, 2017 - Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (TOKYO: 6503) announced today that it has reached a settlement with Pearl GmbH concerning the distribution of its hand dryers. Mitsubishi Electric had claimed that a specific PEARL hand dryer sold in Europe (the Sichler Händetrockner NX-5125) infringed its intellectual property rights, based on EU Registered Community Design No. 001811746-0001, which protects the appearance of hand dryers.

In the settlement, Pearl agreed to discontinue the sale of the Sichler Händetrockner NX-5125 in Europe and to dispose of all remaining products in infringement.

Mitsubishi Electric has also filed intellectual property right infringement lawsuits in China against Taizhou Dihour Electrical Appliances Co., Ltd., a hand dryer manufacturer, and its sales subsidiary, Shanghai Jiecheng Electrical Appliances Co., Ltd., demanding that they stop manufacturing and selling hand dryers alleged to be in infringement.

Mitsubishi Electric became the world's first company to develop and sell a new type of hand dryer that blows jets of air on both sides of the hand, pushing the water off rather than evaporating it, when it introduced its Jet Towel^® model in 1993.

Jet Towel is a registered trademark of Mitsubishi Electric Corporation.

Note that the releases are accurate at the time of publication but may be subject to change without notice.

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