Chinese OEM Tomtop Shipping Goods With Counterfeit HDMI Logos, Says Lawsuit

Chinese OEM Tomtop Group isn't an HDMI licensee, but is selling AV products with counterfeit HDMI logos over its e-commerce website and via third-party online retailers Alibaba, Amazon, DHGate, eBay and Taobao, HDMI Licensing alleged Wednesday in a complaint (in Pacer) filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. U.S. Customs and Border Protection has seized a “plethora” of HDMI-infringing Tomtop products entering the U.S. since 2012, but HDMI Licensing was unsuccessful in shutting down the illegal activity through cease-and-desist letters and other measures, the complaint said. The infringing products “bear markings that are identical, or confusingly similar to,” actual HDMI logos and “provide consumers with a false assurance that the Infringing Products that they have purchased are reliable and conform to HDMI Licensing’s high standards and rigorous compliance testing when, in fact, they do not,” the complaint said. “HDMI Licensing has suffered and is continuing to suffer irreparable harm and financial injury as a result” of Tomtop’s behavior because the infringing products “are likely of a sub-standard quality, unreliable, and/or unable to deliver the exceptional signal and image quality offered by Licensed Products,” it said. Consumers who use the products “will falsely attribute” any “negative experiences” with them to HDMI Licensing, and that “is likely to erode the substantial goodwill that HDMI Licensing has spent years and millions of dollars in developing,” it said. Tomtop representatives didn’t comment Thursday.