Invalidity appeal · Board of Appeal · 2021-01-18
R2049/2019-3
Contested design: 003521053-0013
Outcome
The contested decision is annulled, the RCD is declared invalid, and the design holder must pay EUR 2,050 in costs and fees to the invalidity applicant.
Show verbatim operative text
1. Annuls the contested decision and declares the Community design No 3 521 053-0013 invalid; 2. Orders the design holder to bear the costs and fees incurred by the invalidity applicant in the invalidity and appeal proceedings; 3. Fixes the costs to be paid by the design holder to the invalidity applicant for the invalidity and appeal proceedings at EUR 2 050.
CostsHolder ordered to pay costs of €2,050
Parties
Applicant · invalidity challenger
CALITEX S.A.via PDF extraction
France (FR)
B.P. 59405, 59405 Cambrai Cedex, France
Represented by
David Lefranc
Holder · RCD owner
VAN DER HAEGEN & NECKEBROECK, bvbavia PDF extraction
Belgium (BE)
Pamelstraat Oost 450, 9400 Ninove, Belgium
Represented by
Christian Defauw
Prior art cited (1)
tablecloth ornamentation with repeated decorative circles on polka-dot background
TB 1636 / Graphisme · 2014-2015 MP catalogue
Legal grounds invoked
Argument summary
- ›The invalidity applicant appealed the rejection of its novelty attack on a tablecloth design and relied on a 2014-2015 supplier catalogue plus later commercial emails and orders for the same pattern marketed as 'Graphisme'.
- ›The design holder argued that the catalogue and later marketing acts either lacked sufficient proof or fell within the Article 7(2) grace-period derogation as unauthorised disclosures of its own design.
- ›The Board found that the 2014-2015 catalogue and later promotional emails together proved pre-filing disclosure and that the grace period did not help because the 2014 catalogue predated the protected 12-month window.
- ›The compared designs were identical in their repeated circle arrangement and decorative elements, so the RCD lacked novelty and was declared invalid.
Deciding panel
- ChairTh. M. Margellos
- RapporteurC. Bartos
- MemberE. Fink
- RegistrarH.Dijkema
Decision files
| Language | Type | Source link |
|---|---|---|
| deDeutsch (de) | machine translated | Download original from EUIPO ↗ |
| esespañol (es) | machine translated | Download original from EUIPO ↗ |
| frfrançais (fr) | machine translated | Download original from EUIPO ↗ |
| ititaliano (it) | machine translated | Download original from EUIPO ↗ |
| enEnglish | original | Download original from EUIPO ↗ |
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