Tenneco Automotive has filed lawsuits against four Asian companies after discovering what it said were counterfeit copies of its automotive parts at a Las Vegas trade show, Reuters reported.

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Jim Lewis, a Tenneco chief engineer, told the news agency that, while walking the show floor of the annual Automotive Aftermarket Product Expo, or AAPEX, he found four companies selling automotive suspension parts stamped with Tenneco brand names.

Two companies from South Korea and companies from Taiwan and India were displaying bushings used in suspensions that were stamped with the Tenneco brands Clevite and Harris but were counterfeit, Lewis reportedly said.

“They actually copied all the way down to our part numbers, our trademark and our parts designation,” Lewis told Reuters in an interview.

Tenneco reportedly said it filed lawsuits in the US District Court in Nevada against Altezza Co. Ltd. and Sheng Mhau, both from Taiwan; Hill/Progressive Gear Industries, of India; and Keystone Company Ltd. of South Korea.

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“Counterfeiting and intellectual property violations represent a multi-billion dollar problem in our industry,” Mark Frissora, Tenneco CEO, said in a statement cited by Reuters.

Reuters said that car makers have estimated that pirated automotive parts and copy-cat cars cost the industry an estimated $12 billion annually and could endanger the lives of drivers and passengers.

Lewis reportedly said that if a counterfeit part with a Tenneco brand malfunctions, “we’re going to get the bad name and the bad reputation for a product that wasn’t made by us, and the potential lawsuits.”

Reuters noted that General Motors complained this year that the new “QQ” minicar sold in China by SAIC-Chery Automobile Co. bears a strong resemblance to the new Chevrolet Spark, which will go on sale in China this year while Toyota and Volkswagen have also become ensnared in patent or trademark disputes in China.

Lewis told the news agency that Tenneco told show organisers about the violation of its trademarks, and AAPEX then removed the parts from the trade show.

Tenneco spokeswoman Roni Moore told Reuters it can be difficult to sue a foreign company, but the automotive parts company wanted to “send a chilling effect out there to anyone else considering counterfeiting.”

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