#62025TJ0579General Court upholds EUIPO’s invalidation of a registered door design
AI-generated summary for informational purposes only. Not legal advice. See the original source for the authoritative text.
The General Court upheld the cancellation of an EU-registered door design after finding that an earlier door design had been shown to the public in a 2010 promotional brochure. The court said the brochure was enough on its own to prove earlier disclosure, so the later design lacked the required individual character. For companies, the message is practical: old marketing materials can be enough to defeat a design right if they clearly show the product and a date before the filing of the later design. Businesses challenging or defending designs should preserve dated evidence carefully and be ready to prove when and how a design was first made public.
AI-generated summary. May contain errors. Refer to official sources for legal decisions.
Key Changes
- Old brochures or marketing leaflets can be enough to prove that an earlier design was already public.
- A party challenging a design right must show solid evidence of earlier disclosure, not just suspicions that the document could have been edited.
- If an earlier design was disclosed before the later filing date and was available to specialists in the sector, the later design can be cancelled for lack of individual character.
Obligations
What this law requires
EUIPO invalidity applicants must prove that the earlier design was disclosed before the relevant filing or priority date using solid, objective evidence; mere probability or speculation is not enough.
When asserting earlier disclosure under Article 7(1) of Regulation No 6/2002, the party challenging the design must show both that disclosure occurred and that it occurred before the contested design’s filing or priority date.
A party disputing disclosure must rebut it by proving that the disclosure could not reasonably have become known in the normal course of business to the relevant specialist circles within the EU.
Companies relying on brochures or similar marketing materials to prove prior disclosure should preserve dated documents that clearly show the product, the issuer, the promotional period, and contact or offer details.
Parties submitting evidence in EU design invalidity proceedings should not expect the Court to accept new documents or altered versions of documents that were not part of the Board of Appeal file.