Tonino Lamborghini mulls suit vs Globe for intellectual property infringement

MANILA, Philippines—The Ayala-led Globe Telecom Inc.’s use of the “Tonino Lamborghini” brand to market its newest mobile broadband Internet sticks is a violation of international intellectual property laws.

In a statement on Wednesday, Tonino Lamborghini s.r.l. said it would take legal action to “protect the brand” against the unauthorized use of its name.

“Tonino Lamborghini wishes to inform its customers that unauthorized people are currently trading online and through Globe stores a ‘4G Tattoo Tonino Lamborghini’ broadband stick, which is a counterfeited product,” the company’s CEO Gian Lucca Filippi said in a statement.

The company “has never manufactured or authorized anyone to manufacture such a product, which constitutes therefore a serious trademark infringement,” Filippi said.

Tonino Lamborghini s.r.l., an Italian company that manufactures hand-made watches, is not to be confused with the similarly named Automobili Lamborghini, maker of exotic sports cars founded by tractor manufacturer Ferruccio Lamborghini in 1963. Tonino Lamborghini, named after its founder, was founded in 1981.

Both companies use the recognizable “Raging Bull” logo.

Globe Telecom vice-president for corporate communications Yoly Crisanto said the company would issue a statement, noting the issue was all a “misunderstanding.”

Globe earlier launched its Tattoo Tonino Lamborghini broadband stick, enabled with High-Speed Packet Access-plus, or HSPA+, mobile technology, as its fastest mobile Internet product to date.

The new broadband stick boasts of speeds of up to 10 megabytes per second, faster than most fixed-line home Internet connections. But these speeds are only possible in select areas in Metro Manila, where Globe’s HSPA+ network has coverage.

The marketing campaign, which tapped Filipino-Swiss formula car racer Marlon Stockinger as its endorser, aimed to take advantage of the Lamborghini name’s popularity for building fast automobiles.

But Filippi said using a car racer as an endorser in a marketing campaign named after a watchmaker was “deceitful and unlawful since it leads to a serious likelihood of confusion between two different and separate brands and businesses.”

“Tonino Lamborghini s.r.l. shall take any legal action to protect the brand,” Filippi said.