news
Flair has confi rmed that the longstanding distribution agreement between Epoch Company Limited (Japan) and Flair will end on December 31st 2013. The newly formed Epoch UK will take over the distribution and marketing of Sylvanian Families and other Epoch brands with effect from January 1st 2014, with Graham Brennan appointed as managing director of the new company. Commenting on the announcement,
Amarang acquired by Ripmax
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Epoch to distribute Sylvanian Families in the UK
Trunki succeeds in legal actions
The High Court has handed a victory to Magmatic in a judgment that the Kiddee Case infringes the European protected design of Trunki. At a further
Simon Hedge, Flair’s managing director said: “When we established Flair in 1999, we were delighted to be chosen by Epoch to re-launch Sylvanian Families in the UK. With the dedication of our team and the considerable help and support of our retail partners it has become one of the most iconic toy brands of today. Naturally we are sad to be passing over the brand to Epoch’s new company but we understand the desire to control the global marketing of Sylvanian Families.” Simon continued: “At the same time we are now able to focus even more on other successful Flair
brands like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Doc McStuffi ns, Tree Fu Tom and The Trash Pack and also in establishing the up and coming toys brands of the future. We would like to add that we are grateful to our retail partners for their ongoing support for all Flair’s brands, which continue to drive our current and future growth.” Flair will work closely with the new Epoch UK Company to assist in the transfer of the business, and to ensure a smooth transition for all retail partners over the current months to December 31st when the process will be complete. The Contact for Epoch UK is
info-uk@epoch.gr.jp.
hearing later this month Magmatic will be seeking to stop pan-European dealings of the Kiddee Case by its opponent PMS International Limited. As of now, all Kiddee Cases are infringing the Trunki design. The creator of Trunki, Rob Law has won a
signifi cant legal battle against PMS International Limited, who has been making products infringing the Trunki ride-on case for the last year. Despite not having patent protection for the
ride-on suitcase, the legal case was won on three counts: registered community design fi led in 2003, unregistered design on aspects of the design, copyright in aspects of the packaging. Margaret Briffa of Briffa solicitors, acting for
Ripmax, distributor of radio control models, bought Amarang through a newly incorporated company, Pinehurst 104. Amerang, which collapsed into administration alongside ModelZone last month, will continue to
trade under its current name. All of its 18 staff will transfer to the new company. Deloitte administrator Richard Hawes said: "We are delighted to have secured a buyer for Amerang, which continues to be an attractive brand given the strength of its customer and supplier base and its reputation in the market." Deloitte last week revealed a store closure programme for the retailer’s 47 stores.
Trunki, made this statement: “As the design of the Trunki was held by the Court to represent a substantial departure from what had been known before it was therefore entitled to broad protection. It was not in dispute that the Kiddee Case and Trunki design were not identical, but on carefully considering the similarities and the differences between the designs, the court decided that the Kiddee Case infringed the European registered design.” Magmatic will be working towards the
withdrawal of the Kiddee Case from sale from all retailers’ stores.
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