Luxury yacht copyright spat ends in court-brokered truce

A year-long copycat spat between two European boat builders has ended with an uneasy peace deal brokered by the warring companies.

Germany-based HanseYachts took Italian boat maker Cantiere del Pardo Spa to court over claims that the Pardo 43 was a little too close in likeness to the Hanse-built Fjord 42. The court decided that yes, Pardo’s design was slightly more than a tribute to the Fjord’s lines, and tossed out the anchor on the Italian boat being sold in the region.

However, overnight, Hanse released a statement saying all the court-ordered restrictions on the sale of the Pardo 43 (pictured, above), as well as the dispute, had been sunk.

“The parties were able to agree upon conditions under which the Pardo 43 can be sold, commercialised, produced and promoted outside but also inside of Italy,” Hanse said in a two-paragraph statement announcing the end of hostilities.

“This agreement has the immediate effect that all restrictions related to Pardo 43 imposed by court decisions rendered earlier this year are released.”

What’s not known is whether Hanse’s claim over the similarities between the Fjord 42 (pictured, below) and the Pardo 43 were proven, and whether Pardo will need to pay a licensing fee to Hanse to continue to build its version of the luxury cruiser.

The court spat prompted HanseYacht’s chief executive, Jens Gerhardt, to have a spray about the degree to which the industry was looking to competitors for inspiration.

"It is about time that the immense amount of copying stops, not only in the powerboat but also in the sailing yacht sphere,” Gerhardt said earlier this year after the Italian court sided with it and imposed heavy fines if Pardo continued to sell its version of the cruiser.

"The future task of the industry will be to prevent unfair copies such as the imitation of the original Fjord 42 open, in order to maintain a versatile and high quality market for customers."

In Australia, legal precedents have shown that claiming copyright over a hull’s design won’t protect it from “splashing”, where a competitor copies the mould of the hull. Instead, boat makers need to ensure they have a registered design or a patent over the technology.

The oldest design here, according to IP Australia, the government body that oversees intellectual property claims, is a tri-hull registered by James Croker & Sons Pty Ltd in 1985.