The Beijing Intermediate People’s Court has ordered Zhejiang Jiatai Electrical Appliance Manufacturing and Leqing Fada Electrical Appliance to pay damages of Rmb7.1m ($1.04m) and Rmb2m respectively.

Paul Hussey, Strix chief executive, told the Financial Times that the outcome was “unprecedented” in China’s small appliances industry, which is concentrated in southern Guangdong province near Hong Kong. “We have increasing faith in China’s legal system,” said Mr. Hussey, whose company’s manufacturing operations are based in Guangzhou, Guangdong’s provincial capital. “Knowing that the courts will listen to [intellectual property cases] in an open and honest manner is a huge step forward.”

Strix was further emboldened by the fact the award was accompanied by a cease-and-desist instruction to the two defendants. The court had also issued a “property preservation” order, freezing the “copyists” bank accounts when Strix first brought its case in late 2008. Mr. Hussey said that initial order was a testament to the strength of the case Strix had painstakingly built against the alleged infringers.

“Our frustration with these companies had been growing for some time,” Mr Hussey said. “They were making inroads in a business they had no business being in.” Strix also made a deliberate decision to pursue legal action in Beijing, China’s capital.

While its manufacturing operations are in Guang-zhou and Zhejiang Jiatai’s in an eastern province near Shanghai, the Beijing Intermediate People’s Court offered a neutral venue with nationwide authority. To bring its suit in Beijing, the Isle of Man Company had to prove kettles that infringed Strix’s patent, which were being sold across the country, were also available in the capital.

Strix employs 700 people at its Guangzhou manufacturing headquarters, which opened in 1997. From there, the company can serve the world’s leading appliance brands and their contract manufacturers, most of which are less than a two-hour drive away. A smaller Strix team of about 40 people continues to operate on the Isle of Man, a Crown dependency in the middle of the Irish Sea.

News Source:-  http://www.ft.com/

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News Source: northbynorthwestern.com

I was sad to part with my last kettle, this all-Glass Stove Top Piece from Adagio. Watching the water slowly perk up and get a’bubbling was a simple morning joy.  It was dishwasher-safe, not at all risky in terms of chemicals from either metal or plastic leaching into the water, and an all-around winner.

1. It should have the capacity of at least 1 ½ litr for home use.
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4. concealed element will disperse heat evenly, protect the kettle and give you clean water.
5. Try to find a casing that remains cool inspite of the power and heat so that you are protected from burning your hands.
6. Warranty is very important for good after sale service.
7. Price you should be ready to pay a little more so that you can get a good casing, high wattage and good capacity.

News Source:  www.bestsyndication.com

The parts are produced according to a secret formula and are the sensors that recognise when water has boiled in an electric kettle and switch the device off virtually instantly.

The workshop is the nerve centre of Strix, a privately owned company that makes about two-thirds of the world’s output of control switches for electric kettles. An operation with sales last year of about £85m, Strix recently celebrated the manufacture of its billionth kettle control.

It is difficult to imagine a bigger contrast between the tranquillity of the sparsely populated island off the north- western coast of England and China’s Pearl River delta — the hub of much of the world’s manufacturing. There, in a large, modern factory on a bustling industrial park close to Guangzhou, another team of Strix workers assemble the components shipped from the Isle of Man, with other less crucial parts made in China, to make the controls.

The main reason the metal components continue to be made on the Isle of Man, even though much of the company’s production has been moved to China in the past decade, is to protect Strix’s intellectual property (IP). Strix has spent decades developing its product but fears losing its formula to Chinese competitors if this part of the production process was moved to Guangzhou.

“IP is important to us and it seems safer to keep this part of Strix’s operations in a place where we know we can control it,” says Paul Hussey, Strix CE.

Strix’s success in kettle controls — which it sells to the makers of the 60-million kettles globally produced last year, nearly all of which are produced in China — makes it a prominent member of an unusual but growing group of companies. These are makers of “embedded product enhancers” ( EPEs): devices or materials based on novel technologies, and which transform the function of the appliances they are used in.

Rather than being sold to consumers, these “enhancers” are invariably hidden from view. The only way, normally, to inspect a Strix control is to smash a kettle into pieces.

For this reason, many of the makers of the enhancing devices are “invisible champions”, little known outside their specific sectors.

News Source: www.businessday.co.za