Vespa Primavera clone denied design patent in Europe - IAB Report

Last year, a Vespa Primavera clone was created by a Chinese company. The design patent of the scooter has been denied by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO).

It’s not a hidden fact that several Chinese companies create clones of a plethora of products that are quite popular around the globe. The clones are so similar to the original products that sometimes differentiating between them becomes quite a task.

The Vespa Primavera has also been a victim of such cloning. At EICMA 2019, a Chinese party presented some scooters that resembled the Vespa Primavera. The Piaggio Group complained about the same and the cloned scooters were removed by the authorities of the Fiera exhibition centre. But Piaggio Group’s battle against counterfeiting of Vespa Primavera wasn’t over.

The Piaggio Group takes such activities extremely seriously and has been on the lookout for several years. It continuously monitors the databases of internationally registered designs and trademarks. Due to the Piaggio Group’s strict measures, more than 50 trademarks registered by third parties in the last two years have been cancelled.

This time a Chinese party had created a clone of the Vespa Primavera and wanted to register the design in Europe. Perhaps, it didn’t know that 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. Or, maybe it chose to ignore all that.

Also Read: Piaggio releases Vespa Primavera in mint green as it gears up for summer [Video]

The design registered by the Chinese party has been declared by the invalidity division of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO). The concerned authorities 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. This is yet another win for the Piaggio Group against counterfeiting.