EVGA, a supplier of graphics cards and mainboards, on Tuesday said that Germany trade regulators ordered its rival XFX, a division of Pine Technology, to stop selling graphics cards that potentially insult EVGA as a company. If XFX does not comply to demands, it may be fined for ?250 thousand.?br />

Back in April XFX started to sell Nvidia GeForce 8600-series graphics cards inside packages that display an enraged dog with saliva containing EVGA logotype dripping outside the jaws. Even though the logotype could not be seen without special tools, several web-sites has discovered it and posted appropriate images on the Internet.?br />

According to a statement by EVGA, a Munich, Germany-based court finds that the product packaging infringes EVGA's rights and ordered XFX to stop selling products inside appropriate boxes in Germany. The local court called the image as ?competition-adverse unfair reviling? but the ruling was made to stop selling graphics boards due to prohibition of usage of EVGA logotypes.?br />

A box with enraged dog and EVGA logo. Illustration by Guru3D.com web-site.?br />

In case XFX decides not to stop selling its graphics cards that potentially offend EVGA and infringe its trademarks, the company may be fined for ?250 thousand (approximately $339.7 thosand) and its executives may even face six month prison term. EVGA also asked German resellers to stop selling graphics cards that insult EVGA and promised to apply to courts of other European countries to ban graphics cards with offending images across the European Union.?br />

EVGA and XFX are fiercely competing against each other for a lucrative market of pre-overclocked graphics cards based on graphics processing units from Nvidia Corp. It is believed that both companies have very strong eyes with the developer of graphics chips.