R1556/2018-3

• ›Holder (Grandemola) appealed the invalidity of its clothes peg RCD, arguing that the Portuguese prior design's registration certificate was untranslated and the database images too poor to constitute valid disclosure, and that the designs produced different overall impressions due to several aesthetic differences.
• ›Applicant (Jaime Vilas-Boas) argued that the Portuguese industrial model was validly disclosed in the INPI Bulletin in November 1988, that digitalization caused the image quality loss, and that numerous strong similarities in the shape of the two moving peg parts dominated the overall impression.
• ›The Board confirmed that disclosure had been proven: the registration certificate and database extract together established publication in 1988, untranslated text was irrelevant since only design views and numbers were relied upon, and the design holder failed to show the publication could not reasonably become known to EU specialists.
• ›Comparing the designs, the Board found only minor differences (slightly varied hole shape, grooved area size, hollow parts) that did not outweigh the striking similarities in the overall shape of the two peg parts, confirming the RCD lacked individual character; the appeal was dismissed.

• ChairTh. M. Margellos
• RapporteurC. Negro
• MemberE. Fink
• RegistrarH. Dijkema

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