Hot off the press. Italy’s Supreme Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal filed by Peugeot Motocycles SAS and Peugeot Motocycles Italia as inadmissible.
The appeal by Peugeot was against a ruling made by the court on January 16th 2023 and is in relation to the patent owned by Piaggio & C. S.p.A for the control system that enables a three-wheeled vehicle to tilt sideways like a conventional scooter/motorcycle.
In their defence, Peugeot raised six pleas but the court ruled them as inadmissible, given that the appellants had requested (new) investigations, which the Supreme Court is precluded from conducting.
For any SLUK readers who like legal jargon, here’s the wording from this latest appeal:
The pronouncement of the final court of appeal confirms the previous ruling of the Court of Appeal of Milan and so definitively establishes that the Italian portion of the Piaggio & C. S.p.A. European patent was infringed, the injunction, against Peugeot Motocycles Italia, in the Italian territory, of the import, export, marketing and advertising (also on the internet) of the Peugeot Metropolis, and that Piaggio & C. S.p.A. is entitled to receive damages.
With its subsequent sentence (on which the appeal before the supreme court is still pending), the Milan Court of Appeal quantified the damages that Peugeot Motocycles Italia will be required to pay to Piaggio & C. S.p.A. as result of the ascertained infringement at more than 1 million euro.
The Peugeot Metropolis is at the centre of this legal argument
1.5 million Euros in 2021
Back in 2021 Piaggio also won a joint Milan/Paris court case that prohibited Peugeot from selling its own three-wheeled Metropolis scooter on French territory. As we all know, France (and Paris in particular) is the main marketplace for the Piaggio MP3.
That particular case, as reported on by us at the time cost Peugeot 1,500,000€ in addition to court costs and penalties.
