I worked for one of the German distributors of Gios in the late 80's and early 90's and spoke to Alfredo about this. He told me that a North American distributor had (illegally according to him) registered the brand GIOS in the US without him knowing. When they dropped the distributor, the distributor felt it to be his legal right to continue to sell Gios bikes. It took an expensive legal action to resolve the matter. I don't know if it went to court or an out-of-court agreement was reached, but for many years the rights to the GIOS name in North America were in doubt.
Steven Maasland
Moorestown, NJ
USA