December 12,2018:

In December 2018, BMW filed a proceeding in the District Court of Hamburg, Germany against Ninebot and KSR Group, accusing them of using BMW’s trademark ‘Mini’ in a promotional video without an authorization. Ninebot is a Chinese company, owner of Segway, a well-known personal transport brand. KSR Group, an electronics company distributes the products in Europe.

BMW is the proud owner of their car brand 'Mini' and the famous 'Mini' wings logo. They have accused Ninebot of using these trademarks in their promotional video which features a man riding 'Ninebot Mini Pro' and stops before a car park and places the scooter on the trunk of a 'Mini' car. They engaged in these activities to use the reputation of BMW to their advantage.

According to the suit, Ninebot and KSR Group did not have any authorization to use BMW's trademark in the video.  They willfully violated the Intellectual Property rights of BMW. Their sole purpose was to benefit from the reputation of the BMW’s trademark. KSR Group used the trademarks in a non-descriptive manner for unfair advantage. These activities had harmed the reputation of the company to a great extent, according to the suit.

Previously the Court sided with BMW in their decision on 27th September 2018 as they found that KSR Group indeed wanted to take unfair advantage of the reputation of the famous 'Mini' wings logo.

However, on 2nd November 2018, KSR appealed against the decision at the Higher Regional Court of Hamburg, in continuation to which BMW filed a proceeding in the month of December 2018 at the District Court of Hamburg, Germany. Now it would be interesting to the who wins the battle and upto what extent the damages are ordered by the Court against the guilty.

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