HONEYWELL has released further details of the case, first reported by ACR News on January 1, of the Chinese man convicted for selling counterfeit refrigerant.
As reported by ACR News at the time, the man was sentenced to three years imprisonment, three years of probation, a fine of £3,000, and his company was additionally fined £20,000 for selling counterfeit Honeywell refrigerants.


Honeywell has named the company as Shanghai Changzhi Industry and Trading Company (Changzhi) and revealed that it became aware in June 2010 that it was using Honeywell's logo and Genetron trademark without authorization on its refrigerant cylinders and packaging which it sold in China.

A task force set up by Shanghai Administration for Industry and Commerce Putuo Branch subsequently seized a total of 633 counterfeit products with a sales value of £48,000. The refrigerant had been sold in five provinces and a fine of £130,000 was imposed on distributors.

Honeywell claims to have been pursuing counterfeiters for over 10 years with successful seizures in more than 20 countries. In the last two years alone, Honeywell, closely working with local governments, has seized around 300,000 counterfeit products in mainland China.

All the cylinders of the Honeywell refrigerants sold in China market contain a unique code and anti-counterfeit verification prompting message. Consumers can access the verification via telephone, SMS and online according to the prompting message.


Further action in Spain
Meanwhile, DuPont and Star Refrigeration claim to have again filed legal action in Spain alleging patent infringement against a major refrigerant manufacturer and its distributor over R422D. The companies have been shy to name the company/companies involved this time but DuPont and Star have history in this area. In June last year they reached an out-of-court settlement preventing the unauthorised sale of R422D with Spanish refrigerant reseller Eccogas.

Star Refrigeration owns patents in Spain covering R422D and other non-ozone-depleting refrigerants. R422D is a replacement for R22 in low- and medium-temperature DX systems. DuPont is the sole licensee of Star Refrigeration for these patents, and markets R422D as Isceon MO29.