Honda drags Hero Electric to court over design infringement

Honda has accused Hero Electric of copying the design of one of its scooters. The Japanese auto major has sued the Indian electric two-wheeler manufacturer and is seeking an immediate ban on the manufacturing and sale of its Dash scooter. 

We all know that copying designs of popular products is a very common exercise among Chinese automakers. However, it seems we now have a similar situation here in India, as Honda has sued Hero Electric, accusing the latter’s Dash e-scooter of blatantly copying the design of one of Honda’s global products, the Moove. The Japanese heavyweight has submitted an application to the Delhi High Court, seeking an immediate ban on the manufacturing, selling, and advertising of the Hero Electric Dash.

In its complaint, Honda has accused Hero Electric of infringing its registered design, as the Dash, Honda claims, has identical front and rear lights and the rear cowl as the Moove. Now, the Honda scooter in question here isn’t sold in India. It was only available in some markets in South East Asia and went out of production in 2017. Nonetheless, Honda still has copyright for its design.

Hero Electric hasn’t issued any official clarification on the matter, but a court hearing took place on May 29 through a video conference. Hero Electric is now supposed to submit a response against the allegations on June 11.

It’s also worth mentioning that despite having similar names, Hero Electric's business operations are in no way connected to Honda’s previous partner in India, Hero MotoCorp. That said, Hero Electric claims itself to be the ‘largest electric two-wheeler manufacturer in India’, and has a manufacturing unit in Punjab, with a total installed capacity of 100,000 units/yearly. The company has over 600 sales and service outlets across the country.

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