Italian furniture brands Cassina and Molteni&C are locked in a legal battle over who has the rights to a 1950s design by architect Gio Ponti, after they both showed the chair at Milan design week.
Both parties claim to own the rights to the chair, known as the D.156.3 at Molteni&C and the 811 to Cassina.
Molteni&C introduced the chair ? a wooden lounger with a slightly winged headrest ? this week as part of its new product launches at Milan design week.
While Cassina has not put the chair into production, it has displayed a version of it on its showroom floor for some time, and contends it was "conceived, engineered and produced" in its own factory "in co-operation" with Ponti in the 1950s.
The conflict entered the public arena on Monday, when Cassina placed a newspaper advertisement describing its 811 chair as "the original" designed by Ponti and Cassina. In response Molteni&C issued a statement saying it was "surprised to learn" of Cassina's advertising campaign and that it was taking action to enforce its exclusive rights to the design, obtained in 2010 from Ponti's heirs.
"Molteni&C S.p.A. points out that the model in question, named D.156.3 in agreement with the Ponti Heirs, was designed by Gio Ponti and is the object of an exclusive manufacturing and marketing licence granted to Molteni&C S.p.A. by the Ponti Heirs within the context of a partnership set up in 2010 and still in force today," said...