Sergio Rossi wins against Stefano Ricci. Dolce & Gabbana beats Kappa. Finally, Amazon wins against Europe. These are the results of the three legal battles in various Italian and European courts. The “national” ones revolved around allegations of alleged counterfeiting. The “European” one revolved around Luxembourg’s preferential taxation, with Amazon benefiting EUR 250 million.
Three legal battles
Stefano Ricci vs Sergio Rossi
The Appeals Court of Milan confirmed in full the first instance ruling of the Court of Milan. In other words: Sergio Rossi’s SR trademark does not constitute an infringement of Stefano Ricci’s trademark. Milan Court confirmed that there is no likelihood of confusion between the two marks since Stefano Ricci’s marks must be considered “weak”. Moreover, there are significant graphic differences between the two marks (source: legalcommunity.it).
Kappa (Basic Net) vs D&G
The letter K does not belong to Kappa. The Court of Turin agrees with the Dolce & Gabbana group that had launched the fragrance K – Dolce & Gabbana. In 2020, Basic Italia, owner of Kappa, had sued the brand for counterfeiting and unfair competition. The court in Turin, however, stated that the letter K was not a registered trademark. Kappa also turned to Brussels, but last May EUIPO (European Union Intellectual Property Office) rejected the opposition to the trademark registration. The decision was appealed by Kappa before the EUIPO Board of Appeal (source: Il Sole 24 Ore).
EU vs Amazon
Amazon does not have to pay EUR 250 million in back taxes to Luxembourg. This was ruled by the European Court of Justice. Once again, the EU antitrust chief, Margrethe Vestager, who is leading a battle to zero in on favourable tax deals for multinationals, comes out the loser. According to the Court of Justice, the European Commission failed to prove that the tax advantage granted by Luxembourg to Amazon was in fact state aid. Therefore, it would have been incompatible with European internal market rules. Chiara Putaturo, tax expert at Oxfam EU, when talking to Reuters news agency, called the decision a “Christmas present”.
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