Scottish pizza oven maker declares legal victory over Chinese copycats

A Scottish pizza oven maker has won two significant legal battles against a Chinese manufacturer of copycat products.

The success for Ooni Pizza Ovens, which was founded more than 13 years ago, follows lengthy legal action in the Scottish courts.

The first legal battle involved a two-year lawsuit where Ooni claimed that Foshan Hanshi (known by various names including Foshan Hanshi Heating Equipment Manufactuere [sic] Co Ltd), and its brand of Flamo pizza ovens had infringed Ooni’s intellectual property rights.

One of the products designed by Scottish firm Ooni Pizza Ovens.

The court has ordered Foshan Hanshi and Flamo to permanently stop infringing Ooni’s registered and unregistered design rights, declaring one of Foshan Hanshi’s UK registered designs invalid. As a result, both Flamo and Foshan Hanshi have been ordered to pay a total of £100,000 in damages as well as Ooni’s legal fees.

Under the legal ruling, both defenders must deliver up all of the offending products to allow Ooni to have these destroyed.

The second action has resulted in the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) declaring two of Foshan Hanshi’s UK registered designs for pizza ovens to be invalid. That decision followed Ooni’s application to the UKIPO, where the Scottish firm argued that Foshan Hanshi’s registered designs were too close to the unique features of Ooni’s own Koda 12 and Koda 16 ovens, which are also protected by earlier-filed registered UK designs.

All Ooni pizza ovens are designed by a team of engineers at the company’s Edinburgh headquarters. Bosses said the products are subject to “rigorous quality control checks” to ensure each item meets the high standard the brand has built its reputation on.

Christie McCluskey, general counsel at Ooni, said: “Ooni ovens are powered by market-leading technology and produced as a result of significant investment in product development - from the research stage, to design and final testing. We will take every measure to protect our originality, quality and craftsmanship.

“Innovation has always been at the heart of Ooni’s success and we work tirelessly to defend the integrity of our brand and products. These legal actions are aligned with our long-term strategy to grow the Ooni business and team and fire up our culture of innovation.”