As predicted in our earlier Clone Wars articles on the Scomadi vs Royalloy (now renamed RA Engineering) saga, Scomadi is going to court in the UK.
The action seeks to prevent their previous manufacturer – Hanway of China – from making cloned scooters based on the Scomadi design. It also names prospective importer – MotoGB – as a defendant.
[Scomadi’s] retro scooter is the subject of extensive intellectual property rights and protection.
In order to avoid any potential legal issues for SLUK we are quoting the Scomadi press release verbatim:
“Scomadi Limited and Scomadi Worldwide Limited have now commenced proceedings in the High Court in England and Wales against RA Engineering Co. Limited (until very recently Scomadi Motor Company Limited), Mr Yiming Chen and Moto GB Limited, in relation to a number of claims for infringement of registered designs, unregistered design, trade mark infringement and passing off.
“The background to this dispute is that Frank Sanderson and Paul Melici of Scomadi designed, promoted, engineered and conceived of a modern scooter which, although reminiscent of the golden days of classic scootering, is manufactured to the highest modern engineering standards. Its retro scooter is the subject of extensive intellectual property rights and protection.
“Scomadi believe that these rights are being serially infringed by the Defendants and, as part of its effort to maintain the integrity of its intellectual property and its rights, it has commenced proceedings in England. Obviously the Court process must take its due time and consideration and the Defendants will have to explain their actions in the context of those proceedings. It is not proposed to make repeated public statements regarding this matter but it is important that all of Scomadi’s customers and distributors know that it is actively asserting its position and will continue to supply its unique, high quality and specially conceived products to the international market.
First serve
This is unlikely to be a quick or easy court case because Intellectual Property protection is never a clear-cut thing and therefore will be subject to interpretation in the courts. Again, as we predicted, this is likely to mark a great payday for the legal system who will be the overall winners in all this.
In the meantime, Scomadi are progressing with their plans to set up manufacturing afresh in Thailand, and have announced a new model in the Turismo Technica 200.
We at SLUK will follow the case and keep you up to date on the outcome.
Sticky
Our exclusive SLUK XL5 will be available for the Scomadi very soon, watch this space…
i will always surport this site
Does this mean that Frank will be asking his customers for funding for the court costs? a bit like he did when Scomadi was in its conception stage??
Theres always one attention troll alert..!!!
I think Frank and Paul will be fighting a losing battle on this one, but I hope I’m wrong. Check out the Chinese Land Wind, it’s virtually an exact copy of a Range Rover Evoque. If a big conglomerate like Jaguar / Land Rover can’t win against the Chinese, I don’t see how Frank and Paul can. Maybe their mistake was getting the Scomadi made in the Far East in the first place ?. Yes, the costs were cheaper, but there are quality issues with the Scomadi’s and I feel that they lost their way a little once Piaggio refused to supply their engines. A friend had an original prototype Scomadi with the GTS engine and it was a beautiful scooter. I know of some others who are having no end of trouble with their Chinese built machines. I wish you both well in your legal action, but please don’t bankrupt yourselves in the process.
They will win in court to stop the import of the scooters but to stop the manufacturer of them in China there’s no way China do not believe in copy right
I think this is always the risk when manufacturing in China – the design will be copied and sold wherever possible. Bit ironic that the people that copied the Lambretta are suing the people that copied the scooter that copied the Lambretta… Personally, I’d spend the money on marketing and a dealership network to make the Scomadi the most desirable rather than give it to solicitors.
time somebody told the real reason for the barney.
mr chen the big shareholder and manufacturer, fed up with the galgate branch not selling anywhere near agreed numbers, because of mega prices they’re charging for plastic Chinese lambretta copies. so he and moto gb can make more money and still sell cheaper. could probably sell the plastic ones for 1500 if they wanted to.
Your comment might carry more weight if you didn’t just create a fake FB profile with which to post it.
incorrect ironic reply as the piece is about fake lambrettas from someone using an alias