January 22, 2003—Weldbend Corporation of Argo, Illinois, announced January 15 that the company filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Chicago to halt the unlawful importation and sale of mismarked Chinese carbon steel butt-weld pipe fittings and carbon steel flanges by Silbo Industries Inc. of Montvale, New Jersey; Pro-Fit Piping Components Inc. of Stone Mountain, Georgia; and Allied Fitting Corporation of Houston, Texas. Fittings and flanges are used throughout the United States to connect steel pipes and tubing in a broad range of industrial, commercial, and governmental facilities.
According to the complaint filed by Weldbend, an American manufacturer and marketer of carbon steel butt-weld pipe fittings and carbon steel flanges, the defendants have arranged to transship Chinese fittings and flanges through third countries and mismark the products in order to conceal from US wholesalers, distributors, and end-users the true Chinese origin of the products. The misrepresentations have allegedly enabled the defendants to circumvent tariffs due on Chinese fittings and flanges and to avoid concerns that customers might have about the safety of the Chinese products.
Weldbend’s complaint also alleges that the defendants’ conduct has violated several US laws against unfair competition, fraud and deceptive business practices, etc. Weldbend asks the federal court to disgorge the profits illegally generated by the defendants, to enjoin the defendants’ unlawful conduct, to award damages to Weldbend for the injury that it has suffered, and to require the defendants to notify customers and end-users that might have been affected by the sales of mismarked Chinese fittings and flanges.
