intellectual property

by Sajan C Kumar from https://www.financialexpress.com 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. Italian two-wheeler and commercial vehicle manufacturer Piaggio Group, which has significant brand equity in India, has won a battle against the Chinese copy of its iconic scooter Vespa by getting the design of the ‘lookalike’ invalidated by the invalidity division of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO). The Group’s Baramati facility in Maharashtra produces 3- and 4-wheel cargo vehicles for the the Indian market and export, Vespa scooters for the local market, Aprilia scooters as well as diesel and turbocharged diesel engines for the Group’s commercial vehicles.Piaggio Group, in a statement, 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, had been declared invalid by the invalidity division of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO). The alleged copycat has also been removed by the authorities of the Fiera exhibition centre, after a complaint was lodged by Piaggio. 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 were part of […]