Cisco Systems, Inc. v. Wuhan Wolon Communication Technology Co., Ltd

CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedJuly 23, 2021
Docket5:21-cv-04272
StatusUnknown

This text of Cisco Systems, Inc. v. Wuhan Wolon Communication Technology Co., Ltd (Cisco Systems, Inc. v. Wuhan Wolon Communication Technology Co., Ltd) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cisco Systems, Inc. v. Wuhan Wolon Communication Technology Co., Ltd, (N.D. Cal. 2021).

Opinion

1 PATRICK M. RYAN (SBN 203215) pryan@bzbm.com 2 STEPHEN C. STEINBERG (SBN 230656) ssteinberg@bzbm.com 3 GABRIELLA A. WILKINS (SBN 306173) gwilkins@bzbm.com 4 BARTKO ZANKEL BUNZEL & MILLER A Professional Law Corporation 5 One Embarcadero Center, Suite 800 San Francisco, California 94111 6 Telephone: (415) 956-1900 Facsimile: (415) 956-1152 7 8 Attorneys for Plaintiffs CISCO SYSTEMS, INC., CISCO TECHNOLOGY, INC. and CIENA 9 CORPORATION 10 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 11 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA, SAN JOSE DIVISION 12 13 CISCO SYSTEMS, INC.; CISCO Case No. 5:21-cv-04272-EJD 14 TECHNOLOGY, INC.; and CIENA CORPORATION, [PROPOSED] ORDER GRANTING 15 PLAINTIFF CIENA CORPORATION’S Plaintiffs, EMERGENCY EX PARTE MOTION FOR 16 TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER, v. ASSET FREEZE ORDER, EXPEDITED 17 DISCOVERY, ORDER AUTHORIZING WUHAN WOLON COMMUNICATION ALTERNATIVE SERVICE OF PROCESS, 18 TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD. and WUHAN AND ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE RE: WOLON CLOUD NETWORK PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION 19 COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD., [RE: ECF _3_8] 20 Defendants. 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 1 Pending before the Court is Plaintiff Ciena Corporation’s (“Ciena”) ex parte motion for a 2 temporary restraining order, an order to show cause, an order freezing Defendants Wuhan Wolon 3 Communication Technology Co., Ltd. and Wuhan Wolon Cloud Network Communication 4 Technology Co., Ltd.’s (together, “Wolon”) assets, expedited discovery, and an order authorizing 5 alternative service of process by email. The Court has reviewed Ciena’s motion papers and [held 6 an ex parte hearing on ______________/ exercised its discretion to enter this ruling without a 7 hearing]. Because Ciena moved ex parte, requesting that no notice be provided and said request is 8 granted herein, Wolon was not heard. 9 For the reasons set forth herein, Ciena’s motion is GRANTED as further described in this 10 “Order.” 11 I. BACKGROUND 12 A. Ciena and Its Transceivers 13 Ciena is a national and world leader in developing, designing, manufacturing, and 14 providing telecommunications networking software, services, and equipment, including 15 transceivers—devices that transmit and receive data (“Ciena Transceivers”). 7/20/21 Decl. of First 16 Witness (“Decl. No. 1”)1 ¶ 5, ECF No. __; see 7/9/21 Decl. of Second Witness (“Decl. No. 2”) ¶ 7, 17 ECF No __. A variety of U.S. industries, including federal and state government entities, 18 telecommunications companies, research and education institutions like universities and colleges, 19 utility companies, and major healthcare centers, rely on Ciena Transceivers to perform critical 20 applications, and ensure the integrity of data transfer and communications. See Decl. No. 1 ¶ 12. 21 Transceivers are electronic devices that transmit and receive data. See Decl. No. 2 ¶ 7. A 22 transceiver encodes and decodes data by converting an electrical signal into light pulses and back 23 again, which are sent through a fiber optic cable. Id. Transceivers provide the vital connections in 24 networks. See Decl. No. 1 ¶ 11. The quality and performance of networks in the U.S. and around 25 the world depend on authentic and high-quality Ciena transceivers. Id. ¶¶ 11-12. 26 27 1 To avoid revealing the identities of the Ciena personnel conducting the investigation and the consultants participating in the investigation, the names of the declarants are undisclosed herein, ] Ciena sells a range of transceivers varying in size, functionality, and price. See Decl. No. 2 2 || 4 7. Ciena designs all of its transceivers to meet and exceed industry standards for quality, 3 || reliability, safety, and performance, which vary depending on the industry. /d. A variety of U.S. 4 || industries, federal and state government entities, telecommunications companies, research and 5 || education institutions like universities and colleges, utility companies, and major healthcare 6 || centers, rely on Ciena Transceivers to perform critical applications, and ensure the integrity of data 7 || transfer and communications. See Decl. No. 1 § 12. 8 Ciena has invested heavily in the CIENA brand, which includes the “CIENA” word mark, 9 || which is registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office under U.S. Trademark Registration 10 |] Nos. 2,070,330 and 3,026,860, and the following CIENA logo (together, the “CIENA Marks”): 11 & Clcna 13 14 || Jd. 4§ 6-10, Ex. 1A. Ciena has used, and is currently using, the CIENA Marks continuously and 15 |] exclusively in commerce, including in connection with its sale of Ciena Transceivers, and plans to 16 || continue such use in the future. /d. ¥ 8. 17 Ciena prominently displays the CIENA Marks in its advertising materials, and as a result, 18 || the CIENA Marks are widely recognized and well-known to the public, and are synonymous with 19 || reliable, high-quality networking hardware products. /d. 4 9. Ciena has spent, and continues to 20 || spend, millions of dollars marketing and promoting in interstate commerce its products in 21 || connection with the CIENA Marks. /d. Due to Ciena’s longtime use of and investment in the 22 || CIENA Marks and the quality of Ciena’s products, the Ciena brand has built up a tremendous 23 || amount of consumer goodwill. /d. § 10. The CIENA Marks symbolize this goodwill, and are 24 || invaluable assets to Ciena. /d. 25 Authentic Ciena Transceivers are manufactured by well-vetted third-party vendors called 26 || original equipment manufacturers (“OEMs”). See Decl. No. 2 § 8. Each of these OEMs utilize 27 || specialized equipment and heavily tested processes to produce consistent, high-performing 28 || products on which users rely. /d. Ciena requires its OEMs to follow strict quality and control

1 standards that govern the entire lifecycle of each transceiver. Id. ¶ 9. Each model undergoes 2 multiple kinds of testing before going into production. Each OEM must maintain ongoing 3 reliability monitoring and is subject to stringent audits and regular business reviews to ensure 4 quality standards continue to be met and to identify areas for improvement. Id. And OEMs must 5 maintain detailed records for each product and its movement through the supply chain to enable 6 Ciena to support customers via serial number traceability. Id. 7 Wolon is a company based in China. As part of Ciena’s anti-counterfeiting efforts, Ciena’s 8 consultant discovered that Wolon was offering purported Ciena Transceivers online to U.S. 9 customers. See 7/1/21 Decl. of Third Witness (“Decl. No. 3”) ¶¶ 3-4, 6-8, ECF __. Ciena’s 10 consultant attests to having purchased purported Ciena transceivers and labels from Wolon, who 11 then shipped the transceivers to this District. Id. ¶¶ 7-19. Ciena attests that it analyzed and tested 12 these purported Ciena transceivers and labels and confirmed that they were inauthentic in that they 13 were not made by or associated with Ciena. See Decl. No. 2 ¶¶ 13-19. 14 Ciena presented evidence that Wolon’s counterfeit transceivers are offered for sale and/or 15 sold with product labels with counterfeit CIENA Marks referenced above, and/or are otherwise 16 designed to create the impression that they are authentic Ciena transceivers. Ciena attests that 17 examination also revealed that the design and construction of the counterfeit Ciena Transceivers 18 sold by Wolon did not match that of genuine Ciena Transceivers. 19 B. Discovery and Examination of Counterfeit Ciena Transceivers 20 Certain details of Ciena’s investigation and examination are sealed; thus, this order does 21 not refer to them with specificity. 22 The success of Ciena’s brand has attracted criminal counterfeiters who illegally profit by 23 selling fake Ciena products. To combat this, Ciena investigates suspicious listings in online 24 marketplaces, and in this case, arranged for a consultant to buy suspect Ciena transceivers from 25 Wolon. See Decl. No. 2 ¶ 13; Decl. No. 3 ¶¶ 3-4, 6.

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Cisco Systems, Inc. v. Wuhan Wolon Communication Technology Co., Ltd, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cisco-systems-inc-v-wuhan-wolon-communication-technology-co-ltd-cand-2021.