Bonn, 19 August 2022. The long‑standing legal dispute between Vespa manufacturer Piaggio and the German e‑scooter manufacturer Kumpan Electric over scooter design has been provisionally decided – in favour of Kumpan Electric. Piaggio had challenged the design of the Kumpan scooter, protected throughout the EU, claiming it infringed its copyright, design and trademark rights to its well‑known Vespa scooters. Now, after the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) had previously rejected the claim, the Board of Appeal of the Office has followed suit, dismissing Piaggio's claim and confirming that the scooters of the Remagen‑based start‑up have sufficient design features of their own.
Kumpan and Piaggio have been embroiled in legal battles for four years now. In November 2018, the Italian police confiscated all of Kumpan's scooters following allegations of plagiarism by Piaggio at the world's largest industry trade fair, EICMA, in Milan. Since then, patent attorney Matthias Wagner at Wagner Albiger & Partner and Andreas Okonek, Redeker Sellner Dahs, have been serving as legal counsel for Kumpan.
