Start-up wins legal battle against billion-dollar corporation

Kumpan Electric has been at loggerheads with Vespa manufacturer Piaggio for a good four years. Now the European Union Intellectual Property Office has has confirmed the start-up's point of view.

The Remagen-based start-up Kumpan Electric has scored a victory against Vespa manufacturer Piaggio in a legal dispute that has been going on for a good four years. The dispute also led to a scandal at the EICMA trade fair in Milan. At the time, Piaggio had the e-scooters of the start-up from Rhineland-Palatinate confiscated by the police. The Germans had simply copied the design. As a result, Kumpan Electric had an empty stand at the important industry trade fair.

Piaggio also lodged a complaint with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (Eupio) and filed an application for invalidity. The Italian manufacturer believed that its trademark, design and copyright rights to the shape of the well-known Vespa scooter had been infringed by the Kumpan design. If he had been right, Kumpan Electric would no longer have been allowed to continue selling its scooters. However, the Eupio Board of Appeal has now rejected Piaggio's application.

"We are delighted and relieved that we have once again received confirmation at European level: Our design is not an imitation of a Vespa scooter," says Philipp Tykesson, one of the founders and managing directors of e-bility GmbH, the company behind the Kumpan Electric brand. "The years-long legal dispute has tied up enormous resources and kept us away from one of the most important scooter markets in Europe - Italy," says Tykesson. However, Piaggio still has another legal avenue open to it. The company now has two months to lodge a complaint with the General Court of the European Union, otherwise Eupio's decision will become final.