JCB and Manitou are locked in a legal dispute

Two telehandler manufacturers are continuing their legal battle after a French court granted a preliminary injunction.

Britain's JCB gained an injunction against French competitor Manitou which ordered the company to stop producing telehandlers featuring a patented JCB productivity device.

According to JCB, the ruling by the Judge at Court of the First Instance in Paris means that Manitou cannot manufacture, sell or lease telescopic handlers equipped with the patented feature, JCB's Longitudinal Load Moment Control (LLMC) system.

Manitou points out that the judge dismissed JCB's application for interim injunctive relief on one patent and that the decision relates to a second patent which is no longer available.

In a statement, the French manufacturer says LLMC was incorporated in certain models produced and sold before August 2017. "These models were discontinued in August 2017 and are no longer produced by Manitou BF."

Manitou also stresses that it has appealed the preliminary injunction order.

JCB CEO Graeme Macdonald says: "We invest many millions of pounds in developing and patenting innovative and sophisticated engineering solutions which benefit our customers all over the world. We will not tolerate any copying or infringement of our intellectual property rights wherever in the world they occur."

The court also ordered Manitou to pay costs in the case.