EVGA Bans Sales of 'Offensive' XFX Graphics Cards in Germany
EVGA, a supplier of graphics cards and mainboards, has announced that Germany trade regulators ordered its rival XFX, a division of Pine Technology, to stop selling graphics cards that potentially insult EVGA as a company. In April, XFX began selling Nvidia GeForce 8600-series graphics cards inside packages that display an enraged dog with saliva containing the EVGA logo dripping outside its jaws. Even though the logotype could not be seen without special tools, several web-sites has discovered it and posted appropriate images on the Internet. According to a statement by EVGA, a Munich, Germany-based court finds that the product packaging infringes EVGA’s rights and ordered XFX to stop selling products inside appropriate boxes in Germany.
In case XFX decides not to stop selling its graphics cards that potentially offend EVGA and infringe its trademarks, the company may be fined for €250 thousand (approximately $339.7 thousand) and its executives may even face a six month prison term. EVGA also asked German resellers to stop selling graphics cards that insult EVGA and promised to apply to courts of other European countries to ban graphics cards with offending images across the European Union.
