Plantronics settles case with another telecoms VAR over imports

Announcement comes just a day after agreement with Incom was made public

Plantronics has continued its crackdown on the sale of non-EU Plantronics kit which it claims infringes trademark laws, reaching an out-of-court settlement with Corptel.

The Manchester firm has been in business for more than 20 years and specialises in Jabra, Sennheiser and Avaya kit.

In a statement sent to CRN, Plantronics said:

"Plantronics has agreed an out of court settlement with Corporate Direct (Europe) Limited, trading as Corptel of Manchester, in connection with claims relating to the sale of non-EU Plantronics products that infringed EU trademark laws.

"Details of the settlement remain confidential. Corptel has co-operated with Plantronics in addressing these claims and has stated that it bought these goods in the UK believing them to be genuine."

Corptel declined to comment when contacted by CRN.

Just yesterday, Plantronics announced it had reached a similar settlement with Manchester firm Incom over the same issue. The reseller's director Steve Kelly told CRN that the proceedings, which lasted almost a year, had been a "sorry affair" and that the firm had settled to avoid further distraction and cost to the business.

Plantronics has pursued a number of companies about the issue in recent months. In December it announced plans to sue Manchester firm Digiphone, and a month later it said it had reached an agreement with Dorset firm James Products Limited.

Plantronics was not available to discuss this week's settlements in further detail, but speaking to CRN about the agreements with the previous firms, its head of UK channel Paul Dunne said the action was taken to protect its authorised channel.