Pujol successfully concludes the trial initiated by Kuraray Europe GmbH based on acts of falsehood and illegal advertising.
The judge of the Commercial Court number 7 of Barcelona, has resolved favorably for Pujol in 5 of the 6 claims of the lawsuit filed by Kuraray Europe GmbH, part of the Japanese group Kuraray, global producer of PVB (polyvinyl butyral) lamella for applications of laminated glass that it sells under the Trosifol brand, against Hornos Industriales Pujol S.A, and by extension against EVALAM (a company belonging to the Pujol Group) for unfair competition. The lawsuit was based on and sustained the "use of exclusive advertising", and accused EVALAM of "incurring in acts of unfair competition due to acts of deception and illicit advertising". Kuraray Europe GmbH quantified the damages by claiming 3% of EVALAM's turnover during the last three years, a claim that was finally dismissed by the courts. Kuraray Europe GmbH based its claim on 6 points, of which only one has been considered unlawful, the other five were dismissed by the Judge. Below is a summary of the ruling on the statements by Pujol ovens that were the subject of the procedure:
1.- Statement 1: "PVB laminates show defects at distances greater than 2.5 cm from the edge 8 hours after exposure in the high humidity test chamber" the judge concludes that there is NO falsehood in such statement, in inasmuch as Kuraray Europe GmbH cannot prove through the tests carried out by its experts that this is not as EVALAM maintains through the destructive tests it performs to make such a statement. Textually, the judge states in his sentence "it cannot be concluded that the statement about humidity, in the terms that appear in the catalog, is false"
2- Statement 2: "Evalam Visual is the first product that offers better diffuse transmittance values -haze- than PVB)" The sentence establishes that, based on the test carried out, the statement is not found to be false here either, insofar as it The burden of proof of falsehood corresponds to Kuraray Europe GmbH, who does not provide sufficient evidence for this not to be the case.
3.- Statement 3: "The UV filtering determines less aggression in EVA towards the bodies that are behind the laminated glass" None of the opinions provided by Kuraray Europe GmbH, do not allow us to conclude that the statements, including the percentages communicated by EVALAM, be fake.
4.- Statement 4: "PVB and EVA laminates have the same safety classification". After reviewing the catalog, it is verified that the information contained in it refers to tempered glass, for which there is no proof of the falsity of such statement.
5.- Statement 5: "Evalam Visual is the best product on the market for laminated glass" This expression is hardly considered unfair, its vagueness and lack of specificity must be framed within a field of advertising exaggeration or generic overvaluation of own products or services that hardly may be capable of misleading the average recipient to determine their behavior in the market.
6.- Statement 6: "The PVB layer completely loses its adhesion when the temperature exceeds 40ºC". This is the only one of the six accusations that is considered unlawful, the judge concludes that this message is addressed to the finished product and not to the material, for this reason Evalam is forced to "cease this conduct by withdrawing from its catalog and from his videos this statement and not to repeat this behavior in the future" these corrective actions have already been taken.
Likewise, Evalam wants to take advantage of the occasion to clarify that in its communications it has never revealed that laminated glass with PVB Standard that experiences loss of adhesion derived from temperatures that exceed 40ºC suffers detachment. In the event that this has been interpreted in this way, the company wants to take advantage of the circumstance to openly show its most sincere apologies and convey a message of calm to the market. At the same time, Evalam wants to inform you that all the adhesion tests carried out follow the peeling method and clearly demonstrate the best adhesion of EVALAM vs. the PVB Standard.
Continuing with the provisions of the aforementioned judgment, we reproduce the content of the operative part thereof below: HORNOS INDUSTRIALES PUJOL S.A. has carried out the unfair conduct of deception of art. 5 of the Unfair Competition Law by indicating in its catalog and the videos published on YOUTUBE that "the PVB layer completely loses its adhesion when the temperature exceeds 40ºC", as this statement is false. SENTENCE against HORNOS INDUSTRIALES PUJOL S.A. to cease this conduct by removing this statement from its catalog and its videos and not to repeat this conduct in the future. SENTENCE against HORNOS INDUSTRIALES PUJOL S.A. to include on the main page of its website a note that includes the declaratory part of this ruling. I ACQUIT HORNOS INDUSTRIALES PUJOL S.A. of the remaining claims made against him. Procedural costs are not imposed.
You can access the full sentence HERE