On the ownership of the trade mark “John Richmond”: the Milan Court of Appeal declared Saverio Moschillo’s appeal inadmissible
Foreword
This first episode of Season 5.0 of the John Richmond Saga is dedicated to the appeal proceedings brought by Saverio Moschillo against the judgment(s) issued by the Court of Milan recognising the ownership of the exclusive rights to the signs “John Richmond” and “Richmond” and similar by the English fashion designer of the same name (i.e. Mr. John Richmond) and the owners of the “John Richmond” registered trademark portfolio (Fashioneast S.à.r.l. until a few years ago; and now AM.VI S.r.l. and Quinam Ltd.).
The aforementioned legal case is part of the long-running and very complex legal dispute between Mr. John Richmond (and the new trademark’s owners) and the Italian entrepreneur Mr. Saverio Moschillo (and his related companies), who, after several years of cooperation, have been facing each other in before many Italian courts, each claiming exclusive rights to the distinctive signs “John Richmond”, “Richmond”, “Rich John Richmond” and similar.
For those who have missed the previous seasons, a short summary is available here: Season 1.0, Season 2.0, Season 3.0, Season 4.0.
The first instance judgment
By a writ of summons served on October 17th, 2016, Mr. John Richmond and Fashioneast S.à.r.l. brought an action on the merits against the Moschillo’s Group before the Court of Milan.
At the end of the first instance, the Court of Milan, in two separate judgments issued on February 17th, 2022 and March 27th, 2023, recognised the plaintiffs’ ownership of the exclusive rights to the trademarks “John Richmond”, “Richmond” and similar, to the European design “Tattoo Design”, as well as the ownership of the copyright to the aforementioned “Tattoo Design” and the words “Sex, Drugs, ... and Rock’n Roll”.
In light of the above, accepting in part the John Richmond’s claims, the Court ordered: (i) an injunction against the defendants to cease and desist from using any trade mark containing the names “John Richmond” and/or “Richmond” throughout the European Union; (ii) a fine of EUR 300.00 for each day of delay in complying with the injunction and of EUR 100.00 for each product manufactured or marketed in violation of the injunction; (iii) the definitive transfer to the plaintiffs of the domain names used by the defendants and bearing the claimed distinctive signs; and, finally, (iv) the publication of the first instance judgments in trade magazines (e.g. Vogue) and on the websites of the Moschillo’s companies.
The appeal proocedings
On 26th October 2002, Mr. Saverio Moschillo filed an appeal against the judgment(s) issued by the Court of Milan on the following grounds: lack of interest of John Richmond in the proceedings and revocation for non-use and invalidity for lack of novelty of the John Richmond trademarks.
However, Moschillo’s appeal was dismissed in its entirety by the Court of Appeal of Milan, which, accepting the objections raised by the John Richmond and the other plaintiffs, declared the appeal inadmissible on the grounds that it had been served on the appellants after the statutory deadline, in breach of the time limits laid down in Article 325 of the Italian Code of Civil Procedure.
Consequently, in a judgment published on November 15th, 2024, the Court of Appeal fully confirmed the first instance judgments issued by the Court of Milan, sentencing Mr. Saverio Moschillo to pay the legal costs.
Brief conclusions
As we have seen in the previous paragraphs, the legal disputes over the ownership of the patronymic trademarks "John Richmond" and "Richmond" are now coming to an end (at last! - after about nine years of bitter litigation). In fact, the deadline for Saverio Moschillo's appeal to the Supreme Court has expired.
Therefore, Saverio Moschillo is permanently prohibited from using any distinctive sign (trademark, sign, domain name, etc.) containing all or part of the "John Richmond" trademarks, the violation of which would expose to significant fines and other legal consequences.
As always, we will keep you informed of any developments in the parallel case concerning the "Rich John Richmond" trademark, which is still pending before the Milan Court of Appeal.
So, we look forward to seeing you in the next episodes of the John Richmond season saga...
If you want to know the ending, don't miss it!
Article published in today's Lexology Newsletter, written by Massimo Baghetti and Leone Cei.