Dispute over airbag patents: Dainese wins against Alpinestars in Germany

Posted on by admin

Table of contents

Dispute over airbag patents: Dainese wins against Alpinestars in Germany
Dainese

counselor

technology & future

Dispute over airbag patents: Dainese wins against Alpinestars in Germany

Dispute over airbag patents
Dainese wins against Alpinestars in Germany

The two Italian clothing manufacturers Dainese and Alpinestars have been fighting over airbags for motorcyclists for years. Dainese saw his patents infringed by the competitor’s airbag vests – and was now right for the second time in Germany.

Eva Breutel, Uli Baumann

02/11/2019

The Regional Court of Munich I had already ruled in August 2017 (file numbers: 21 O 23553/15 and 21 O 11358/16) that Alpinestars to refrain from marketing its Tech-Air airbag vests in Germany and Dainese has to compensate for all damages that the company has suffered as a result of their sale since July 1, 2015 (MOTORRAD reported). This decision was confirmed by the Munich Higher Regional Court, before which Alpinestars appealed, on February 7th. This judgment can only be challenged via a non-admission complaint at the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe. It is not yet known whether Alpinestars will take this option. You first want to examine the judgment in detail.

With the verdict from Munich, Alpinestars must stop marketing the Tech-Air Street Airbag Vests and TechAir Racing Airbag Vests in Germany with immediate effect. In addition, Alpinestars has to recall the vests that have been delivered since July 1, 2015 and that are still in the possession of commercial customers (i.e. in retail) in Germany. In addition, Alpinestars should Dainese replace all damage caused by the sale of the patent-infringing vests in Germany since July 1, 2015.

Alpinestars sees no patent infringement

The dispute over the rights to the airbag is by no means settled: The two protective clothing manufacturers, whose headquarters in northern Italy are just 50 km apart, are facing courts in Italy, Great Britain and France on the same matter.

Immediately after the ruling was announced, Alpinestars issued a notice stating that Alpinestars Tech-Air technology did not infringe any Dainese patents, either now or in the past. Alpinestars also emphasized that the Munich ruling relates exclusively to the German market and has no international effect on other markets where Alpinestars offers its airbag technology.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *