Italian Supreme Court rules that mere reproduction of Vespa image may amount to counterfeiting
Roman Holiday Vespa Italian online IP resource Marchi & Brevetti has just reported a very interesting and recent decision of the Criminal Section of the Italian Supreme Court (Corte di Cassazione) regarding the crime of counterfeiting within Article 474 of the Italian Criminal Code. More specifically, it its judgment on 17 March 2017 (sentenza No 13078/2017) the Fifth Section of the Supreme Court addressed the question whether the mere reproduction of the image of a Vespa [a well-known and iconic symbol of 'italianità', ie 'Italian-ness' and - more generally - Italian life-style] on gadgets (eg key rings) and T-shirts without also the reproduction of the word 'Vespa' [a registered trade mark] would amount to counterfeiting. Under Italian law counterfeiting is not just a matter of trade mark infringement [in this case, it would be trade marks held by Piaggio, which also produces quite a lot of...