It is from the end of December that the Court of Milan (in complaint) recognized the tort of unfair competition for slavish imitation against the "Amore" bench produced by Slide S.r.l., created by Slide's founder, Giuseppe Colonna Romano, and commercialized by Slide for more than 10 years.
Slide is specialized in the creation and production of furniture elements, mainly for outdoor use, including special polyethylene objects, and in 2021 Slide had noticed the commercialization and promotion by a Venetian company, its competitor, of a bench highly similar to the "Amore" bench called "Welcome."
Slide then promptly sued the Court of Milan so that, in the face of the unlawful conduct of the Venetian company, it would inhibit the latter from producing and commercializing the imitative product.
The Court of Milan, in its complaint, upheld Slide's claims, recognizing first of all the market accreditation of the "Amore" bench product, as an iconic product that is widely known and appreciated by the public, as well as the unlawful takeover of the essential and individualizing features of the AMORE bench by a competing company.
In particular, the Court ruled that the "distinctive sign imitated is, here, given by the external form of the product and consists of a three-dimensional sign, of which the complainant has suitably demonstrated, according to the College, on the one hand, all the requirements necessary for the invoked protection, namely, distinctive capacity, renown and novelty, as well as, on the other hand, the confusability between the two products." In order to appreciate the existence of these requirements of distinctiveness, renown and novelty with respect to Panca Amore, the Court then confirmed that:
- the Love Bench is "a bench composed by a word consisting of letters of the alphabet, and it is precisely the outward form that has the individualizing and diversifying efficacy of the complainant's product, compared to other benches on the market. Moreover, in all logical evidence, having regard to the function properly and commonly performed by a bench, it is, here, a matter of a merely arbitrary and whimsical form, and not of a functional form, indispensable or mandatory for the achievement of a certain technical result, nor even useful, even if not strictly necessary to a certain result (here, the seat);
- Slide "has provided suitable documentary evidence that it has started commercializing "Amore" bench since 2015-unlike the "Welcome" bench, which was first presented on the market only at the end of October 2021-and also that, "thanks to the promotional investments put in place by the complainant, as well as to the extensive marketing, in Italy and abroad, of the Amore bench, it has become so accredited on the market as to be immediately recognizable by the public [. .] through press reviews, the number of pieces sold and the relative turnover achieved, exhibition uses, sponsored promotions, and displays in furniture salons."
- in relation to the form, "there is no suitable evidence that, before Slide, or even at the same time, other companies in the sector have produced and offered for sale manufactured goods with the peculiar characteristics peculiar to the Amore bench."
In conclusion, in relation to the above-mentioned products, the Court found that both all the requirements for protection of the imitated form and the danger of confusion by slavish imitation were met, on the basis of the general impression derived from their overall appearance, with respect to which the differential elements consist of mere individual details, incapable of impressing themselves on the consumer's mind in such a way as to enable him to distinguish the origin from entrepreneur other than Slide.
This is an important measure that, in addition to recognize the value of the design conceived and produced by Giò Colonna Romano for Slide, will allow it to protect a unique product such as Panca Amore from any further copies and imitations.