The 83rd EICMA has ended with enforcement action against products suspected of copying protected motorcycle designs. Guardia di Finanza officers from the Compagnia di Rho intervened at two stands belonging to Chinese manufacturers, where motorcycle bodywork was found to reproduce the lines and registered design of Honda. The components were removed from the exhibition halls and placed under criminal seizure.

The operation followed a notification by the legal representatives of the companies involved to the Public Prosecutor’s Office at the Court of Milan. The reported allegations concern possible criminal violations involving the counterfeiting of trademarks and patents. The case therefore concerns not just visual similarity at a trade show, but the suspected presentation of components infringing industrial-property rights.

A separate measure involved an Italian company active in importing and selling new-generation vehicles. Investigators seized two electric motorcycles manufactured in China that were ready to be shown to visitors and international buyers. Technical checks concluded that both vehicles were exact copies of models patented by another Chinese manufacturer. The Italian company is consequently suspected of introducing and trading products bearing counterfeit signs in Italy.

A familiar problem for the show

The intervention recalls earlier EICMA editions, particularly those around 2010 and the years that followed, when officers also found scooters presented as copies of the Vespa and Piaggio MP3. In some cases, such products were displayed only a short distance from the original models. That history explains why intellectual-property checks remain a recurring feature of the major Milan motorcycle exhibition, especially where international manufacturers bring new products to market.

The Milan Command of the Guardia di Finanza said the EICMA operations form part of an established approach focused on protecting industrial and intellectual property at major events in sectors heavily affected by counterfeiting. It added that monitoring exhibitions helps protect historic brands and investment in innovation, while preventing plagiarised or counterfeit goods from distorting competition to the detriment of compliant businesses and consumers.