Ferrari wins court case over ‘copycat’ design

Ferrari has won a copyright infringement case in the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) against a German tuning house for copying the design of its US$2.6 million (AUD$3.45 million) FXX K hypercar.

As first reported by Reuters, Ferrari sued Mansory, arguing some elements of the German tuning house’s Siracusa 4XX model were in direct violation of Ferrari’s intellectual property.

The Mansory Siracusa 4XX is based on an existing Ferrari 488 GTB, but with a  body kit designed to make it look like the FXX K.

At the heart of the dispute were the V-shaped section of the Mansory’s bonnet and front bumper, mirroring near-identical elements found on Ferrari’s track-only hypercar.

Ferrari argued that those elements “distinguished the Ferrari FXX-K from other cars”, and that Mansory’s design on a 488 GTB, a car valued at around AUD$332,000 when new in Europe, devalued the multi-million dollar Ferrari FXX K.

The Italian company first took the matter to the German Bundesgerichtshof courts.

But, after it failed to reach a decision, the matter was referred to the CJEU which said in its findings, handed down on 28 October, that it recognises Ferrari owns the designs and rights to the appearance of the Ferrari FXX K and that Mansory’s body kit violates those rights.

The CJEU ruling stated that despite the design for the FXX K being unregistered, that any component could be said to have individual design rights if it is “a visible section of the product or complex product, clearly defined by particular lines, contours, colours, shapes, or textur0e”.

While the CJEU found in favour of the Italian manufacturer, no terms of the ruling have been revealed. The terms of the judgment have not been reported. As at today, the Mansory Siracusa 4XX is still listed on the German company’s website.