BYD (Build Your Dreams) filed suit in Federal Court Monday against several individuals accused of selling, or attempting to sell, counterfeit Personal Protective Equipment to unwitting customers, endangering many on the frontlines of the battle against COVID–19.
The suit was filed Monday in the U.S. Court, Central District of California in Los Angeles. It seeks unspecified damages and promises to donate any award of damages to charitable COVID-19 relief efforts, BYD President Stella Li said Monday. BYD is represented by the law firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP.
“We want to stop the exploitation of consumers during the coronavirus global pandemic,” Ms. Li said. “Tragically, these inferior counterfeit and often defective masks are being distributed to doctors, nurses, first responders, exposing these heroes to increased risk of infection. These counterfeit masks have not gone through the rigorous quality-control and regulatory approval process associated with masks manufactured by BYD. The consequences can be very bad.”
Although BYD—which stands for “Build Your Dreams”—has become a household name based on its cutting-edge work in the renewable energy and electric car space, in early 2020 following the pandemic outbreak, the company devoted its resources to manufacturing respiratory masks and other healthcare and medical devices to address the severe shortage faced by countries worldwide. BYD formed Global Healthcare Product Solutions LLC to sell these products in North America, and quickly began working with state and local governments, including the state of California, to supply their hospitals and first responders with respiratory masks. BYD is now the single largest manufacturer of respiratory masks in the world, manufacturing 50 million masks per day. BYD sells these products under their well-known “BYD” and “BYD Care” trademarks.
While anti-counterfeiting laws are often applied in the context of luxury goods, the consequences here are far more serious. When defendants falsely advertise the masks as being manufactured by BYD, they are deceiving the customers into believing that the masks will function to the specifications required by the government to protect the person ultimately wearing the mask from contracting COVID-19.
Often, these masks are distributed to front-line workers who face constant risk of exposure to the virus.
BYD will not condone bad actors using BYD’s brand recognition and trademarks to deceive and harm the public. This lawsuit is merely the most recent in a series of efforts that BYD has taken to fight back against the scourge of counterfeiting that is unfortunately all too common. In addition to warning customers of the threat of counterfeiting and how to avoid it, BYD is working with law enforcement to investigate and hold responsible parties criminally liable.
BYD has filed this suit to shut down entirely this unlawful activity, protect consumers from misrepresentation, confusion and serious harm, and protect its name and brands from being associated with Defendants’ unlawful and unethical efforts to profiteer from the pandemic.
BYD’s highest priority is to ensure that its customers have access to safe, reliable, and authentic BYD Care products. BYD has a Product Authenticity Verification Program that provides users and companies with an easy way to verify the authenticity of BYD Care products and product providers.
If you would like to verify the authenticity of BYD Care products or product providers, please send an e-mail to realcheck@byd.care.
ABOUT BYD
The Official Sponsor of Mother Nature™, BYD, which stands for Build Your Dreams, is the world’s leading electric vehicle company with proven innovative technology for cars, buses, trucks, forklifts, and rail systems – like SkyRail. BYD is dedicated to creating a truly zero-emission ecosystem offering technology for solar electricity generation, energy storage to save that electricity, and battery-electric vehicles powered by that clean energy. BYD has 220,000 employees across the globe, including nearly 1,000 in North America. For more information, please visit www.BYD.com or follow BYD on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.
