PIAGGIO GROUP WINS FIRST-INSTANCE EUROPEAN PATENT INFRINGEMENT SUITS AGAINST PEUGEOT MOTORCYCLES

AFTER THE VESPA, THE UNIQUE NATURE OF THE PIAGGIO MP3 SCOOTER IS ALSO RECOGNISED

The Piaggio Group (PIA.MI) said that, with rulings issued within a few days of each other, both the Tribunal Judiciaire of Paris and the Court of Milan had found Peugeot Motorcycles (now owned by an Indian Group) guilty of infringing a European patent on the technology of the Piaggio MP3 three-wheel scooter with the Peugeot Metropolis model.

The patent in question owned by the Piaggio Group to which the rulings in its favour refer (still subject to appeal) relates to the control system that enables a three-wheel vehicle to tilt sideways like a conventional motorcycle.

For the infringement, Peugeot Motorcycles has been sentenced in France to pay damages calculated at €1,500,000, in addition to further penalties for infringement and legal expenses.

The ruling of the Paris court also prohibits Peugeot Motorcycles on French territory from producing, promoting, marketing, importing, exporting, using and/or possessing any three-wheel scooter that uses the control system patented by the Piaggio Group (including the Peugeot Metropolis), on penalty of payment of a fine for every counterfeit vehicle.

The Court of Milan has prohibited Peugeot Motorcycles on Italian territory from importing, exporting, marketing and advertising (offline and online) the Peugeot Metropolis, with a fine of € 6,000 established for every vehicle sold after a term of 30 days from the announcement of the sentence. Peugeot Motorcycles must also withdraw all counterfeit vehicles from sale in Italy within 90 days, on penalty of payment of an additional fine of € 10,000 for every day of delay in executing the order.