We do not know who this guy is or what he is about, but about a week ago we noticed that he was advertising BLACK products for the FIAT 500 on his website.
We are the distributors of BLACK products in North America and while we supply the BLACK line of products to dealers and other vendors we have never supplied them to the company in question.
We contacted BLACK regarding this and asked if they knew who he was or if he had any of the products from them. They responded that he has never ordered anything from them, does not represent them in any way.
He was advertising their product line and trying to sell it without ever having purchased it from the manufacturer. Since this was misleading to the consumer BLACK contacted the company in question and requested that they remove all BLACK products and logos from their website and do not represent themselves as a BLACK dealer since they are not and do not have any BLACK products.
A little later Scagliarini released a "Press Release" to their Facebook followers stating the following:
Scagliarini Motorsports Terminates Sale of BLACK Products Effective Immediately, Cites IP as Concern
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACTS:
Versace Public Relations
c/o Scagliarini Motorsports
[email protected]
www.abarth-scagliarini.com
BOULDER, Colorado (July 27, 2011) Scagliarini Motorsports, the leading Abarth and FIAT 500 performance car company in North America, announces today that the company will no longer offer BLACK products from Italy.
“Effective immediately Scagliarini Motorsports will no longer offer BLACK products through any trade channel in North America,” Managing Director Michael Salvarani says. “The reason for our decision is based on advice from counsel, and relates to certain intellectual property.”
Scagliarini Motorsports was authorized by BLACK Srl to resell the company’s products through any channel of trade. Scagliarini Motorsports was not required to sign a Distribution Agreement with BLACK, but the company did agree to rules of conduct to which Scagliarini Motorsports remained in full-compliance.
With BLACK approval Scagliarini Motorsports contacted FIAT Studios for the distribution of BLACK shift knobs through an introductory special offer. The collateral, also approved by BLACK, included the statements “Presented by” and “Offered Exclusively by”.
Not receiving a reply from BLACK for specific information, Scagliarini Motorsports had counsel review certain BLACK products for compliance with intellectual property law. The opinion expressed by counsel was that the owner of the property could have an actionable claim against BLACK Srl.
Based on advice from counsel, Scagliarini Motorsports removed all BLACK products and references from the company’s website. Scagliarini Motorsports is having counsel review third-party practices that may be related to the matter, and the company will initiate legal action based on its findings.
“We remain enthralled with a narrow range of product by BLACK, and we consider the heritage of Mr. Furlan’s career rich,” Michael Salvarani says. “Unfortunately, the IP concern and matters related need to be sorted before we can reconsider the collection.”
SCAGLIARINI MOTORSPORTS
Scagliarini Motorsports is the leading Abarth and FIAT 500 performance car company in North America. In addition to constructing performance cars for FIAT Studios and private sale, Scagliarini Motorsports offers the most comprehensive collection of genuine accessories, and performance, styling and tuning solutions for Abarth and the FIAT 500 in Canada, Mexico and the United States.
Scagliarini Motorsports is an official sponsor of FIATmagazine™, the most comprehensive news source about everything FIAT from around the globe, and the management company of Trofeo 500 USA, a five-event race series for the Abarth and FIAT 500 proposed to run in the United States during 2012. Scagliarini Motorsports has a super-mini store on its Facebook page where customers can save up to 50% on weekly special offers.
www.abarth-scagliarini.com
We think this is a bit misleading and the community should be aware of this.
If you look at this site it looks as though this company is a part of the FIAT Group and does joint ventures with FIAT. We had an opportunity to speak to several members of the FIAT Staff and none of them were aware of the company and the relationship. We attempted to find out where the company is located, but only found a PO Box.
