The Piaggio Group has said that a design registered by a Chinese party, used to justify the production of scooters similar to the Vespa exhibited at the EICMA 2019 two-wheeler show in Milan, has been declared invalid by the invalidity division of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO). Following a complaint lodged by Piaggio at the ECIAM show, the Chinese product was removed by the authorities of the Fiera exhibition centre.
According to a Piaggio statement, the EUIPO invalidity division annulled the registration since it was “incapable of eliciting a different general impression with respect to the registered design” of the Vespa Primavera, and pointed out that the registration was an unlawful attempt to reproduce the scooter’s aesthetic elements.
The Vespa Primavera is protected by the design registered by the Piaggio Group in 2013, by the three-dimensional trademark of the Vespa scooter and by the copyright that safeguards the artistic value of the shape of the Vespa, a style icon since 1946.
The invalidity proceedings are part of the wider activities against counterfeiting undertaken by the Piaggio Group for years. This includes continuous monitoring of the databases of internationally registered designs and trademarks, which, as a result of the opposition proceedings initiated by Piaggio, has led to the cancellation of more than 50 trademarks registered by third parties in the last two years.
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