The Paris court ruling means that Manitou cannot manufacture, sell or lease telescopic handlers equipped with the patented feature.

JCB CEO Graeme Macdonald said: “We invest many millions of pounds in developing and patenting innovative and sophisticated engineering solutions which benefit our customers all over the world.

“We will not tolerate any copying or infringement of our intellectual property rights wherever in the world they occur.”

During operation of Loadall telescopic handlers fitted with JCB’s patented Longitudinal Load Moment Control (LLMC) system, sensors monitor the weight being retained on the rear axle.

If the sensors detect the rear axle weight is reducing past a pre-set threshold, then the system locks out the hydraulics to prevent further weight being transferred from the rear axle to the front, preventing the machine tipping forward.

To allow operators to drive continuously without any loss of productivity, JCB has a patented an additional feature on its LLMC system that automatically overrides the device while the machine is moving.

This feature prevents JCB’s telehandlers unnecessarily locking out the hydraulics and giving false indications of instability when the machine is simply re-handling or travelling over rough ground.

Manitou has been ordered by the court to cease using this feature by 13 March.