At Ferrari against Masari (Mansory Design) And its chief executive in an infringement lawsuit filed in Germany, European Court of Justice (CJEU) The conditions under which unregistered Community design protection may apply to parts of the product are confirmed.

The decision is likely to be of concern to those interested in car design and aftermarket body personalization.

Case background

Community design protection applies to the overall or partial design resulting from product features, This protection includes both registered and unregistered forms. The unregistered variant provides protection to the owner of the design from the date the design is first made available to the public in the Community, The protection period is 3 years.

When determining whether a design has been made available to the public in the Community, You need to assess whether the design has been made public, On display, Has been traded or otherwise disclosed, And to operate within the community in such a way that professionals in the relevant trades can reasonably be made aware of these events in the ordinary course of business.

Facts and arguments

Ferrari in 2014 years 12 month 2 It was first published in a press release on Tuesday FXX K Vehicle type, The press release shows a side view and front view of the vehicle. Ferrari said the Masari violated the unregistered Community design published in the press release, Involved on the hood V Shape design for the exterior as well as the exterior of the front bumper spoiler.

In the case of first instance and appeal, The German court ruled, The design is not an unregistered Community design, Because the parts that Ferrari claims lack some kind of autonomy and consistency of form. After Ferrari appealed again on a point of law, Germany's federal Supreme Court asked the European Court of Justice the following question: Whether individual parts of a product are entitled to unregistered Community design protection as a result of the disclosure of the overall appearance of the product? If it is, Whether the characteristic evaluation of the product component should consider the component form (Independent of the overall impression of the entire product) Autonomy and consistency?

Decision of the European Court of Justice, If the appearance of a part or component of the product can be clearly identified when the design is made available to the public, So providing the public with an image of a product means providing the public with a design of a part of that product or a component of a complex product. It is critical that the image accurately and definitively visualizes the portion claiming unregistered community design protection.

In this case, Provided in a Ferrari press release FXX K Picture of the model. In assessing the conditions of protection as an unregistered Community design, The following factors must be considered:

－The case involves whether parts or components of a product pass through a particular line, contour, color, Shapes or textures form the visible part of a product or complex product;

－Whether the appearance of a part of a product or a component of a complex product is itself capable of creating an overall impression and whether that impression can be completely lost in the product as a whole.

According to guidance from the European Court of Justice, The case will now return to German courts. Designers may be comforted by the impact of the case, Because they do not have to provide the appearance of each part separately in order to benefit from unregistered Community design protection for each part of the product, The process can be expensive and time-consuming.

besides, The increased difficulty in obtaining unregistered community design protection is inconsistent with the relatively short period of protection and the requirement to confirm that infringement has occurred. but, Either on its own or as part of a product, Every part must be visible, This remains critical.

(Compiled from www. lexology. com)

Reprinted from China Intellectual Property Network   translation: Wang Dan　proofread: Rason group

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