Piaggio Vs Peugeot
Piaggio has won the first round in a legal dispute with Mahindra Two Wheelers owned Peugeot Motorcycles. The Paris and Milan courts have found in Piaggio's favour in a European patent infringement case.
In a parallel to Piaggio's successful attempts in the past to have the unique nature of the Vespa design IP protected, this action against Peugeot concerns alleged infringement of its MP3 Scooter design rights.
 |
| Piaggio has won patent
protection actions for the control system of its sideways leaning tech
on the MP3 against Peugeot's use of a claimed counterfeit system on its
Metropolis. |
Specifically, the courts have upheld Piaggio's claim that the Peugeot Metropolis counterfeited a European patent relating to the technology of the Piaggio MP3 three-wheeled scooter - the control of the system that allows a three-wheeled vehicle to lean sideways like a traditional motorcycle.
In France, Peugeot has been ordered to pay compensation for damages quantified at € 1,500,000, plus further fines for violation and legal costs and banned from the production, promotion, marketing, import, export, use and/or possession of any three-wheeled scooter that uses the control system patented by the Piaggio Group on French territory (including the Peugeot Metropolis), under penalty of a fine for each vehicle said to be subject to counterfeiting.
The Court of Milan prohibited Peugeot Motorcycles from importing, exporting, marketing and advertising (also via the internet) the Peugeot Metropolis in Italy, establishing a penalty of € 6,000 for each vehicle sold. Peugeot Motorcycles must withdraw all counterfeit vehicles from the market in Italy within 90 days, under penalty of an additional € 10,000 for each day of delay in carrying out the order.
