V5 LEGAL BATTLE
MondialMoto 2007 SRL v. FB Mondial
MondialMoto announced last year that it would manufacture the first road-going V5 Superbike and designs of our two bikes and V5 engine have been featured Worldwide.
In January 2019 the lawyers of FB Mondial accused MondialMoto 2007 SRL of copying their logo and brand. They demanded that we relinquish the intellectual property rights to our unique product and pay 3% of all monies that MondialMoto 2007 SRL holds in it’s bank account.
FB Mondial has had a turbulent past. The company was made bankrupt in 2005 and ceased to exist until 2015 when it was purchased by Aeon Motors Taiwan. During this period of inactivity, in 2009, our lawyer Matteo Tiezzi in Modena, Italy registered MondialMoto 2007 SRL and I was appointed as Director. Our corporate logo was then listed online at: www.mondialmoto.it.
In all our media and on our Internet website [now revoked by Registro.it] we clearly state that we are NOT associated with FB Mondial. We do not want to be associated with this company and our company logo has no similarity to the FB Mondial logo. [See the FB Mondial logo depicted below, which has been placed next to our MondialMoto 2007 SRL logo for visual comparison.]
FB Mondial lawyers also claimed that MondialMoto 2007 SRL was not legally registered in the United Kingdom. They accused that I had committed a crime by using a fictitious name and that I should have a warrant issued for my arrest. To my amazement the Judge in Modena judge has ordered that our website mondialmoto.it be removed from the Internet without a hearing taking place. This is a violation of my personal right to own the domain which I had purchased in 2009.
Antonio Matarollo is my name. My mother’s name is Gloria Isadoro Matarollo, an Italian citizen, and last year I legally changed my name by deed poll taking the christian name Antonio in honour of my grandfather. I qualify to become an Italian citizen according to the Italian Authorities. A competent search with Companies House will reveal that our UK company is legal.
The production of our two motorcycle prototypes for the EICMA Motorcycle Show in Milan have been stunted by this legal challenge by FB Mondial.
The use of the word Mondial is widespread in the motorcycling world. The word Mondial merely means 'worldwide' in French. For example, in France, there is a manufacturer called Mondial Scooters [http://www.mondialcity.fr], and in Turkey there is a company called Mondial Motorcycles [https://www.mondialmotor.com.tr] who have been in business for over 35 years. And like F.B Mondial these are all very low volume companies compared to those of Mass production motorcycles like Honda.
To my knowledge these companies have not been served with similar legal papers.
FB Mondial has now put our trade name, MondialMoto, at the bottom of their website, without our consent. A name they have never used before. We will defend this action with a counterclaim against FB Mondial and we have retained legal representation in Italy.
We are comitted to producing the world's first road-going 1,000cc V5 superbike.
We are still in the development phase of our products, and in order to move forward we must first defend this legal case. We seek your valued assistance and support in this urgent matter.
Antonio Matarollo
Director of MondialMoto 2007 SRL
mondialmoto.eu
