An infringement case of industrial design rights settled under civil route in Vietnam

in Industrial Design, Related Matters in Vietnam

In 2018, PIAGGIO & C. S.p.A. (“PIAGGIO”), the holder of Design Patent No. 20652 for protection of motorbike industrial design, filed a suit against a Vietnamese company named “DETECH Technology Development Supporting Joint Stock Company” (“DETECH”).

The plaintiff detected that the defendant engaged in manufacturing and distributing motorbikes using the industrial design thereof inconsiderable different from the protected industrial design under Design Patent No. 20652. In support of the infringement claim, before filing a lawsuit, in 2017, PIAGGIO filed a request with the Vietnam Intellectual Property Research Institute (“VIPRI“) to obtain the assessment conclusion on design right infringement which was then issued in favour of PIAGGIO.

In the petition lawsuit, PIAGGIO requested the Hanoi People’s Court to order the defendant to cease the infringement, destroy the infringing elements, pay a compensation damage of VND 500 million (~US$ 21,700), a fee of VND 200 million (~US$ 8,700) for hiring lawyer to engage in the lawsuit, and issue a public apology in local newspaper.

Court’s judgement:

After hearing the case, the Court issued a judgement which held that:

• DETECH was ordered to cease the infringing industrial design rights of PIAGGIO;

• DETECH was ordered to pay the fee of VND 200 million (~US$ 8,700) for hiring a lawyer to engage in the lawsuit, other fees such as VND 7,227,000 (~US$ 315) for purchasing the motorbike samples for the VIPRI’s assessment and VND 6,397,500 (~US$ 280) for obtaining the VIPRI’s assessment conclusion to PIAGGIO.

Kindly note that PIAGGIO has withdrawn the request against DETECH for a compensation damage of VND 500 million (~US$21,700), the reasons for which are still unknown.

For more detail, please contact KENFOX at info@kenfoxlaw.com or kenfox@kenfoxlaw.com

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