Mirage eclipses Virage and publishing houses

Another success confirms the presence and character of the eyewear production company, not only from a purely commercial aspect: this time, it was the Milan Court's specialist section which, after a heated cross-examination of major national and international companies, ruled 'the original validity of the Mirage brand which has been registered since 1981'.

The circumstances that led to the decision by the Court of Milan - ruling No. 1019/07, filed on January 29, 2007 - date back to the summer of 2004. The August number of 'For Man Magazine', published by Cairo Editore S.p.A., distributed and sold a pair of sunglasses which were produced by S.C.S. Guarnieri & Cie - Gifthink and distributed by Ugo Pietra & C. s.a.s., with the 'Virage' brand.
Mirage - and many of its clients and suppliers on its behalf - immediately noticed the phonetic and graphic similarity between 'Virage' and its own brand.

It was also shown that the glasses enclosed with the magazine were of the same design but the technical and quality standards were considerably inferior. Mirage immediately decided to clarify the situation on the market and through its attorneys, Gabriele Carrà (Varese Court) and Manuela Bellistri (Milan Court) took legal action against the producer and the distributors of the counterfeit product. After applying for the urgent seizure of the counterfeit goods, attorneys Carrà and Bellistri won their case against the counterfeit Mirage brand and against Cairo Editore S.p.A., Ing. Ugo Pietra & C. s.a.s. and S.C.S. Guarnieri & Cie - Gifthink for unfair competition which created confusion to the detriment of Mirage.

The Court recognized 'the constant use of the brand (Mirage, ed.) in addition to its relevance in terms of the name of the company itself' and that 'there could be no doubt as to the validity of the registered trademark Mirage' (...) 'which appears to be particularly original in itself'.